Chief Prison Officer allegedly caught with marijuana at G/town Prison

Last Updated on Sunday, 2 August 2015, 14:54 by GxMedia

Chief Prison Officer Marvin Azore

A Chief Prison Officer at the Georgetown Prison was Saturday night arrested for allegedly being in possession of a large quantity of marijuana and other items, according to well-placed sources.

He has been identified as Marvin Azore of Onion Field, La Bonne Intention (LBI), East Coast Demerara.

Police and prison sources confirmed that a search was conducted on Azore’s personal belongings and 240 grammes of marijuana, 12 packets of cigarettes and one cellular phone were found.

Azore could appear in court as early as Monday, August 3, 2015.

Demerara Waves Online News was told that Azore was searched one day after he was told by a senior officer that he had received information about his alleged illegal activities.

Sources said the alleged discovery of the items in his working bag was made shortly after he had searched junior members of the prison service. Azore was one of several Cadet Officers who, in January 2015, was made Chief Prison Officer.

Chief Prison Officers and others above his rank are not usually searched, but on that occasion a Superintendent instructed a Cadet Officer to search Azore.

In the past, during raids by police and soldiers quantities of marijuana and cocaine as well as improvised weapons have been found in the Georgetown Prison.

Back in February, 2002 five prisoners escaped from the Georgetown Prison after shooting  prison officer, Roxanne Whinfield, to her head with a gun that had been thrown over the Camp Street fence. Prison Officer Troy Williams was stabbed to death by one of the escapees.

Whinfield remains incapacitated.