Two separate investigations were under way last night after officers at Portlaoise prison discovered a mobile phone in a parcel containing legal documentation which had been sent to a gangland criminal, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent
The large bundle of fake legal documentation had been hollowed out and the phone placed in the hole. It was discovered when staff at the jail inspected the parcel just after 11.30am yesterday.
The new mobile phone was still in its box and contained a charger, instruction booklet and a number of accessories.
The parcel was destined for inmate Jeremy Cooper (37), from Dunne Street, Dublin. He has around 25 criminal convictions, many of them for serious crimes involving false imprisonment and the use of firearms.
Normally any legal documentation being sent to a prisoner would not be read by prison staff because of solicitor-client confidentiality.
However, a letter from a law firm addressed to the prison governor would accompany the documentation. The letter would act as proof that the documentation was what it purported to be.
The Irish Times understands that the parcel intercepted yesterday was made to look as if it came from one of Dublin's best known legal firms. It was clearly marked as legal documents, had been franked and was addressed to "Geremiah Cooper".
There are no prisoners of that name in Portlaoise maximum security prison at present. The prison authorities are satisfied the parcel containing the phone was intended for Jeremy Cooper.
Prison officers became suspicious because of the way the parcel was wrapped.
They put it through an X-ray scanner which revealed a metal object inside.
An internal investigation at the jail was begun immediately. Gardaí in Portlaoise have also begun a separate investigation.
The discovery of the phone comes after new rules were introduced in May banning the use of mobiles by prisoners.
A number of searches have since been conducted across the prison system, which have yielded hundreds of smuggled phones.
A small number of inmates have appeared before the courts and have been convicted of possession of phones. In Portlaoise prison searches yielded phones, drugs, plasma television screens and two budgies.
The man to whom the phone was addressed is due for release in November.
Cooper was a member of a Dublin crime gang that kidnapped a young drug dealer from Ballybough on the north side of the city in December 1996.
Mark Dwyer (23) was then tortured at a house in Kildare for a number of days over missing drugs before being taken to a field in Finglas where he was shot in the head.
Cooper was convicted for his role in Mr Dwyer's kidnapping and was sentenced to 14 years in November 1999.