In a demonstration of contemptuous disregard for the law and its structures, a daring courier successfully delivered 60 wraps of hemp to a robbery suspect in a mini-cell, at the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos. The illegal substance was concealed in a Viju Milk bottle, and the messenger escaped arrest.
As if these were not amazing enough, the suspect, Olalekan Bayo, was quoted as saying: “The person just came and said Lekan, this is for you from your friend at Ikoyi Prisons and I said okay.” It is unclear whether the alleged sender was also behind bars, which would make the incident even more scandalous and troubling. The suspect sounded unbelievable: “I do not know the courier or the source, and I did not know that the bottle was stuffed with hemp.”
Police persecutors reportedly found the wraps of hemp in the suspect’s possession. According to Sergeant Andohemba Koti, “I was standing in front of the court this morning when I saw this young man with a bottle of Viju Milk. When he entered the court premises at first, he was looking in the left and right directions and I thought there was something fishy about his mission.”
There can be no excuse for the security breach; it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Ideally, if there were appropriate and effective security measures, the courier shouldn’t have been able to deliver the hemp to the suspect. An additional point: he shouldn’t have been able to escape arrest.
It would appear that what happened at the court’s mini-cell was a reflection of what goes on in the prisons. It is a complication of criminality when drugs, and even dangerous weapons, find their way into spaces designed for the punishment of crime. It is an undesirable situation and full of dangers. Apart from other possibilities, access to drugs and weapons can inspire rebellion among inmates and lead to violent disorder.
The prison security system needs to be tightened, no doubt. The reality that prisons are not out of bounds to the public does heighten the security challenge, but it is definitely not insurmountable. In a way, the incident at the Tinubu court was a replay of a reported occurrence at the Kirikiri Prison last year.
A 35-year-old caterer, Oyinyechi Ezirim, was arrested by prison officials as she attempted to smuggle hemp to her boyfriend in jail. “The compressed dried weeds concealed inside noodles tested positive for cannabis and weighed 4.1kg,” the authorities said.
Ezirim’s story is instructive. She was quoted as saying: “I used to buy noodles for my boyfriend who has been in prison custody for one year. Last week, he told me that a former inmate promised to send him two cartons of noodles. Unfortunately, when I got to the prison, 20 packs of the noodles were found to contain hemp.”
It is food for thought that food is considered useful as a vehicle for smuggling drugs into prison for inmates. It is also a point to ponder that the two instances implicated people who had prison experience.
A stunning riot at Kirikiri that had the appearance of an attempted jailbreak last year also highlighted lax prison security. In the aftermath of the incident, there were shocking revelations that the inmates had rebelled against a move by prison officials to deny them access to creature comforts such as mobile phones, generators, hemp and cigarettes.
Inasmuch as prison is not isolated from the larger community, it is understandable that people would think up ways of breaching security for their own ends. However, the onus is on the authorities to ensure that the place of punishment for crime does not become a place for perpetration and perpetuation of crime.
‘It would appear that what happened at the court’s mini-cell was a reflection of what goes on in the prisons. It is a complication of criminality when drugs, and even dangerous weapons, find their way into spaces designed for the punishment of crime. It is an undesirable situation and full of dangers’
