New Zealand prison staff find sausage stash

An attempt by an ex-inmate and his girlfriend to smuggle a stash of sausages and booze into Auckland's Paremoremo Prison was foiled by corrections staff on Tuesday. The pair had been trying to treat their mates inside the prison to a feast but are now facing charges for breaching the Corrections Act.

The ruse came undone after a staff member who lives nearby the prison noticed a car on a private road beside the prison's low-medium security unit drop off a passenger, Auckland prison manager Neil Beales said. "The staff member notified the prison immediately, at the same time as internal fence alarms in the unit were activated and staff saw a prisoner pick up a bag and run into his cell," Mr Beales said.



Prison staff caught the man outside the prison and handed him over to police. The man's girlfriend, who had been driving the car, was later arrested by police. Prison staff rushed to the prisoner's cell and discovered he had changed into a different outfit in an attempt to fool them, Mr Beales said.

"Two other prisoners was also in the cell and one was holding the bag which, surprisingly, contained sausages, other meat and alcohol. How the prisoners planned to cook the meat remains a mystery, but the barbeque was canned when the items were confiscated and the prisoners were told that they would be facing internal misconduct charges and security classification reviews."