CHENNAI:The police have booked two foreign prisoners for smuggling mobile phones on the Puzhal prison premises on Wednesday.
A mobile phone and its accessories were recovered from two convicts of foreign origin - one from Nigeria and another one from Colombia on Wednesday by prison staff.
Police said that the accused E Augustine Chiboku, 41, from Nigeria and C Edwin Henrique, 38, from Colombia were convicted in 2018 and 2020 respectively on the charges of smuggling and distributing narcotics.
The prison staff, Elango and his team while conducting regular raids on the prison premises on Wednesday evening at around 5.30 pm, when they checked the maximum security division of the prison. They found a plastic bag buried on the ground with a cellphone, battery, 3 chargers and 2 USB cables buried under a tree.
After interrogation they found that the two convict prisoners were using the contraband inside the prison. The two were later handed over to Puzhal police who booked them under the Prison Act. They will be produced before the magistrate, said the police.
Using mobile phones on the prison premises is banned in the state and the prison authorities had been providing facilities to the inmates to talk to relatives and lawyers by phone under the supervision of prison officials.