Bangkok Post : Phone scam bottoms out
Phone scam bottoms out
A prison inmate, desperate to hide a mobile phone, lodged the device in his anus and was exposed only when the phone rang.
Sorasit Chongcharoen, director of the department's Central Correctional Institution for Drug Addicts, said mobile phones have been smuggled into prisons before.
They are used by inmates who conduct drug deals from their cells.
During cell inspections, inmates pay fellow jailbirds, many of whom are transvestites, to hide the phones in their backsides.
The practice makes it easy for inmates to evade metal detectors. Mr Sorasit said some warders tell inmates to jump up and down so phones hidden up their backsides fall out.
Thanis Sriyaphan, deputy chief of the Corrections Department, said an inmate at the central prison in Uttaradit attracted the warders' suspicion when he could not sit still. It turned out the inmate had inserted two mobile phones into his anus.
One was pulled out by hand and the other was surgically removed because a piece of wire on the plastic bag in which the phone was wrapped caught the inner wall of his intestine.
"The inmate was rushed to hospital," said Mr Thanis.
He said the inmate repeated the stunt after he was discharged. He is believed to have been under pressure to help inmates with drug convictions.
A panel has been set up to look into the incident and to find out whether any warders are involved in mobile phone smuggling.