Drugs sprayed on letters in prison smuggling operations

Portlaoise Prison, the country’s only high-security jail,  saw the greatest percentage increase in seizures of all the prisons. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Drugs were sprayed onto letters and newspapers and stitched into clothing in a bid to get around visit restrictions imposed in prisons because of Covid-19, according to the Irish Prison Service.

Official figures show a continuing rise in the number of mobile phones being seized in 2022, with an increase in weapon seizures and a dramatic increase in the number of arrests by gardaí.