Man arrested for smuggling cell phones into prison

A man was arrested on Tuesday night for illegally entering and introducing cell phones into the Alcoentre Prison Establishment, sources from the GNR and the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP) said on Wednesday.

According to the DGRSP, at 9:30 pm on Tuesday, the prison's surveillance "detected, at the time it was taking place, the presence of a stranger on the agricultural land, next to the prison area's fence", adding that "objects were also thrown into a courtyard".

The prison guard in the watchtower fired several warning shots and raised the alarm, and the pursuit of the intruder began,” a former inmate of this prison in the municipality of Azambuja, in the district of Lisbon.

The Aveiras de Cima GNR was alerted, but upon their arrival, the intruder, a 30-year-old man, had already been detained by prison guards and was later handed over to the GNR, an official source from the Lisbon Territorial Command of the National Republican Guard told Lusa news agency.

Sources contacted by Lusa confirmed that two packages containing 15 cell phones and their chargers and other accessories were seized , which, according to the DGRSP, “had been thrown over the net and got stuck in its blades”.

According to the GNR source, the telecommunications equipment would be used by inmates to “establish communications with the outside” of the prison.

Prison guards at the Alcoentre Prison Establishment “preventively” carried out a recount of the inmates, concluding that “the incident had nothing to do with escape or attempted escape.”

The detainee was charged and did not make any statements to the GNR, and the case is under investigation.