contraband news stories on Newser

Inmates Use Contraband Phones, Texts to Stage Strike

Kevin Spak — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:58:05 CST

Georgia experienced what could be described as the first viral prison protest this weekend, as inmates in at least seven penitentiaries coordinated a mass strike using contraband cell phones. The inmates have refused to work until the state starts paying them to do so and provides them with more educational...

Con Packed a Lot of Junk in His Trunk

Rob Quinn — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:13:00 CDT

A Washington state man turned his rectum into an Aladdin's Cave of contraband in preparation for a 3-day stay in prison, police say. The man managed to smuggle in a lighter, rolling papers, a baggie of tobacco, a bottle of tattoo ink, eight tattoo needles, a one-inch-long smoking pipe and...

Milan's Poor Get Contraband Caviar for Xmas

Harry Kimball — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:07:10 CST

The poor and homeless in Milan will get a pricey treat this holiday season, the BBC reports. Officials will distribute 88 pounds of beluga caviar seized from smugglers to the city’s shelters and soup kitchens. The sturgeon roe, confiscated in November en route from Poland, is valued at around $550,...

Dogs Fetch Contraband Cell Phones in Jails

Laila Weir — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:51:51 CDT

Dogs, it turns out, can sniff out more than just bombs and drugs. Authorities in Maryland and Virginia have canines rooting out cell phones, described by one official as "perhaps the worst type of contraband" in today's prisons. The increasingly tiny devices are easy to smuggle in, the Washington Post...

US Troops High on Afghan Heroin

Heather McPherson — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:15:38 CDT

Bored US soldiers have easy access to heroin in poppy-rich Afghanistan, and few fear punishment if they're caught using it, Salon reports. Filmmaker Shaun McCanna says he was able to score heroin easily on over a dozen occasions during his two trips to the war-torn country.