Police have seized two parcels filled with suspected “contraband” and arrested two men, aged 33 and 19, on suspicion of conspiracy to convey articles into prison.
The men, who remain in custody for questioning, were detained as part of an investigation into parcels being thrown over the prison walls at HMP Forest Bank in Salford.
Dawn raids were carried out on two addresses in Salford on Friday, according to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), with specialist sniffer dogs deployed in subsequent searches.
Officers said the warrants they used related to an operation carried out by the force’s new Challenger Prison Team, as part of a wider investigation into links between organised crime groups and the four prisons within Greater Manchester (Forest Bank, Buckley Hall, Hindley and Manchester).
This includes a probe into so-called “prison throw overs” of drugs, mobile phones and weapons.
Detectives said they believed the parcels were ready to be thrown over the walls at Forest Bank in Agecroft, Salford. They added their searches were “intelligence-led”.
GMP also revealed that on Thursday night, “co-ordinated searches” were carried out inside Forest Bank by prison officers, leading to a number of mobile phones being seized, which the force said initial intelligence suggested were linked to the ongoing investigation.
“Today’s activity has resulted in two arrests and a number of significant seizures which will be forensically examined as part of this investigation,” detective inspector Jack Murphy said.
“The new Challenger Prison Team are dedicated to relentlessly pursuing any individuals involved in these throw overs both inside and outside the Greater Manchester prisons.”
He added that the parcels “often contain drugs, mobile phones, steroids, tobacco, paper soaked in spice, cannabis and even knives”, that these items are sold for five times their standard price “inside of prisons”, and that they “make the prison an unsafe environment”.
“It can promote gang culture and can lead to further crimes being committed by inmates, [while also] posing a serious risk to the safety of prison staff and prisoners, and lining the pockets of organised crime groups,” DI Murphy said.
David Smart, the deputy director at Forest Bank, said: “Organised crime has a negative effect on the safety and security of the staff and residents at Forest Bank, and we are proud of our partnership with the Challenger Prison Team in making our prison and the community we serve a safer place to be.”
GMP are asking anyone who might have information about prison-related crime to report it online or by using the LiveChat function at gmp.police.uk.
Alternatively, reports can be made anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
