Operation Throwover targets drugs thrown over prison walls
By Maurice Garvey
VAST amounts of heroin, cocaine and tablets are among the contraband recently recovered by authorities targeting people throwing drugs over the wall to prisoners in Wheatfield Prison.
A new initiative ‘Operation Throwover’ between the Irish Prison Service and gardai in Ronanstown and Ballyfermot has led to 19 prosecutions since the initiative started in December.
Wheatfield Prison has seen vast amounts of drugs recovered after they were thrown over the prison wall
The operation provides a “constant garda presence” in the perimeter areas around the Cloverhill Road prison, which has a capacity for 540 inmates.
Illegal drug smuggling has long been an issue for Irish prisons.
Drones were used in recent years to drop drugs and phones into facilities, including Wheatfield, along with flaming socks to burn through netting above the yard.
However, authorities have cracked down on this type of activity via a number of new security measures, including the trailing of anti-drone technology, enhanced CCTV, passive and active drug detection dogs, and more secure netting.
A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service told The Echo: “Since 2020, the Irish Prison Service Operational Support Group based in Wheatfield Prison have been working in partnership with An Garda Síochana, Ronanstown and Ballyfermot on ‘Operation Throwover’, an initiative targeting people attempting to supply drugs to prisoners in Wheatfield Prison.
“Operation Throwover is a current security exercise established between OSG management and the Superintendent of Ronanstown Garda Station which provides a constant garda presence in the perimeter areas around Wheatfield Prison. Vast amounts of tablets, cocaine, heroin and cannabis are amongst the contraband recovered.
“This successful partnership has resulted in 19 incidences of prosecution such as, sale and supply and possession of drugs.”
In 2019, Wheatfield recorded the largest number of drug and phone seizures amongst Irish prisons, with 479 drug seizures and 298 mobile devices, while Cloverhill Remand Prison had 183 drug seizures.
A garda spokesperson said patrols in the perimeter areas of Wheatfield Prison have led to the discovery of drugs in waste ground.
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