{"id":561068,"date":"2025-11-10T08:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/561068\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:58:14","slug":"exploiters-look-for-the-vulnerable-it-doesnt-stop-at-the-prison-gates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/561068\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Exploiters look for the vulnerable – it doesn’t stop at the prison gates’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside the police operation tackling contraband in Greater Manchester’s prisonsGMP officers checking vehicles entering HMP Forest Bank(Image: Jason Roberts \/Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The road that leads to HMP Forest Bank is unassuming. On a dark November evening, intermittently lit up by passing headlights, it could be the entrance to any ordinary industrial estate.<\/p>\n

But as you swing into the turning, you see it: four police vehicles and a mass of neon. A total of seven police officers are carrying out searches of every car that makes this turning.<\/p>\n

You are waved into a nondescript bay on the left-hand side and ordered to vacate the vehicle, shortly before officers swoop and search it top to bottom, checking everything from the glove compartment to the tyre tread.<\/p>\n

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Bags are pulled out from the boot, each one then rifled through. Every occupant of the car is personally searched, with registration plates, driving licenses and insurance status checked.<\/p>\n

When the M.E.N arrived, two searches were already well under way. In one vehicle, operators had noticed a smell of cannabis and found, upon searching it, several sealed packets of medicinal cannabis.<\/p>\n

The driver had a legitimate prescription for it, so was allowed to proceed. “I would advise you not to carry as much about with you,” said one officer. “100%, I’ll be more mindful next time,” promised the driver.<\/p>\n

GMP officers checking vehicles and drivers entering HMP Forest Bank(Image: Jason Roberts \/Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The other driver being searched wasn’t so lucky. Officers had found a grinder in the car and drug-tested the driver, searching the rest of the car in the meantime, which had a dangerously low tyre tread of just 0.4mm.<\/p>\n

Minutes later, the test had returned a positive result and the young man was quickly arrested on suspicion of drug driving – the second of its kind that day.<\/p>\n

Earlier on, a vehicle had turned into the entrance only to do an immediate U-turn – presumably at the sight of liveried vehicles. The car was pursued, and the driver also arrested on suspicion of drug driving.<\/p>\n

The officers get their fair share of flack: one boy, who looks about 13 in his shiny black puffer, lobs a gleeful shout of “RATS” as he paces away on his BMX. “They always get brave when they’re running away,” remarks one officer drily.<\/p>\n

These searches have been taking place sporadically outside of Greater Manchester’s prisons for over a week now, on a sporadic basis, outside HMP Hindley, Forest Bank and Buckley Hall.<\/p>\n

It’s part of Operation Sheriff, a multi-agency operation shared by Greater Manchester Police<\/a>, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) and His Majesty’s Prison Service, that first began last October.<\/p>\n

At the time, Superintendent Andy Buckthorpe told the Manchester Evening News<\/a> the op’s aim was to stop ‘the organised crime threat’ in Manchester’s prisons.<\/p>\n

“We want to stop the drugs getting into our prison estate. That’s what’s causing the damage and the violence inside jails,” he said.<\/p>\n

Drugs are coming into prisons via corrupt jail staff, via prison visits from families of inmates and by packets being thrown over prison walls – but they aren’t the only problem.<\/p>\n

Weapons and mobile phones also making it inside too, via increasingly sophisticated methods. It’s not just that drones are being used to drop items in – they are making targeted flights.<\/p>\n

22-year-old Mohamed Sharif was jailed for six years this week <\/a>for flying illegal drugs into Strangeways Prison, with Manchester Crown Court<\/a> hearing that he had been ‘trying to clear a cannabis debt’.<\/p>\n

The drone Sharif was found with (Image: NWROCU)<\/p>\n

Detective Superintendent Iqbal Ahmed, and Detective Superintendent at ROCU, Claire McGuire, who were on hand to speak to the media, spoke of drones being used to fly to specific inmates’ windows.<\/p>\n

“They will choose a vulnerable prisoner, maybe someone with a drug problem,” said McGuire, who is Head of Intelligence at ROCU. “That way, if it is discovered, it can’t be traced to the organiser.”<\/p>\n

For the smuggling of contraband in and out of Manchester’s prisons isn’t just helping inmates have a more comfortable stretch – though Det Supt Ahmed says he has heard of families bringing takeaways in – but to facilitate serious organised crime.<\/p>\n

“Even if we get significant sentences for organised criminals, I think we would be very naive to think that their activities will just stop at the prison gates,” said Det Supt McGuire.<\/p>\n

“Organised crime is about making money; they will still want to keep earning, and keep their standing in the community. The prison walls don’t stop it.<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure we are targeting the different methods of entry, but it’s not just about drone pilots, it’s about looking higher up the chain and dismantling the bigger groups.”<\/p>\n

GMP officers checking vehicles entering HMP Forest Bank(Image: Jason Roberts \/Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Of their operations so far, the superintendents say that 500 phones were seized from HMP Manchester in the space of a week, with 12 being seized at HMP Lindley in the course of one evening.<\/p>\n

“What we’ve realised is that criminality does not stop, and that, in some cases, it can be more lucrative in prison,” said Det Supt Ahmed. “Drugs can be ten times as valuable inside as they would be outside.<\/p>\n

“A phone, for example, that might be \u00a350 on the outside, could get you into a debt in prison of \u00a32,000. There is plenty of money to be made.”<\/p>\n

The problems this can cause are considerable. “It fuels other issues inside like violence, people taking drugs, getting into debt, prisoners not feeling safe inside, family members being targeted on the outside,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Beyond that, we have dealt with numerous deaths in prisons linked to this. Because of the way that drugs inside are often cut with other things, this has a big impact on the safety of the substance.”<\/p>\n

Detective Superintendent Iqbal Ahmed, Director of Intelligence at GMP (Image: Jason Roberts \/Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Det Supt McGuire added: “It’s fuelling criminality, exploitation, intimidation and violence within prisons, and disrupting the peace and order inside. It just raises the temperature within the prison.<\/p>\n

“But this is not just a prison problem, it’s a community problem,” she continued. “People are being used to bring things in, getting into debt bondage. And exploiters look for the vulnerable. It doesn’t stop at the gates.”<\/p>\n

The detectives say a pair of teenagers were caught with a drone outside HMP Lindley recently. “They were arrested and taken away, but the person who arranged it will just go and find someone else,” said McGuire.<\/p>\n

Detective Superintendent Claire McGuire, of the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (Image: Jason Roberts \/Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Back on the ground outside HMP Forest Bank, Sergeant Farrimond, who is conducting the search alongside officers from her Neighbourhood policing team, thinks the evening has been a success – and not just in the number of arrests.<\/p>\n

“We had 86 no-shows last week,” she says, referring to the number of people who were due to visit but never turned up.<\/p>\n

“110 people were supposed to come tonight but only 56 actually did. I think we’re putting a lot of people off.”<\/p>\n

“I think our work since last year shows that we are taking criminality within prisons seriously,” said Det Supt Ahmed.<\/p>\n

“We still can’t know the full extent of what is being brought in, but we know much more, now that we are sharing intelligence and working together.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the police operation tackling contraband in Greater Manchester’s prisonsGMP officers checking vehicles entering HMP Forest Bank(Image: Jason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,188,393,23474,4884,187,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-561068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-forest-bank-prison","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-greater-manchester-police","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115524582961599564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}