RIYADH: Drugs, mobile phones and SIM cards top the list of items smuggled into prisons in the Kingdom, according to the statement of a top jail official, Al-Watan daily reported Friday.

“Prison authorities have noticed that some inmates use mobile phones to run their criminal activities outside. Others use smuggled mobile phones to smuggle narcotics into prison premises,” said Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Harithy, director general of prisons.

Then there are those who attempt to smuggle in mobile sets with the aim of keeping in touch with their family members although prisons provide inmates with facilities to talk with their families.

“Prison officials discover smuggling attempts both manually and with the help of detectors,” the director general said. He added that the most advanced detection machines are to be supplied in the Kingdom’s jails within 18 months.

“Dozens of officers are now undergoing training in countries such as Turkey, France, the United States and Canada on countering the latest methods of smuggling prohibited things into jails,” he said.

Al-Harithy added that people found smuggling prohibited items into jails, be they prison employees, or police officers, will be punished with up to 10 years in jail.

Jail authorities have beefed up security following increasing reports of attempts to smuggle narcotics and mobile phones into jails. Two kilograms of hashish were recently found being smuggled into a correction home in Dammam, the daily reported.

There was also another instance last year of a prison guard being offered SR12,000 to bring in a bag containing drugs. To his credit, the guard reported the matter to the authorities who then set up a sting operation to arrest the smuggler.

According to a previous study, drug addicts account for 45 percent of inmates in Saudi jails. There are 104 prisons and 12 reformatories across the Kingdom.

“Around 13,000 prisoners in Saudi jails are there for drug addiction while most of the crimes committed by other inmates are somehow or the other related to drugs,” Al-Harithy said on a previous occasion.