Prison officer arrested for smuggling ganja into jail

(CNS): A senior prison officer who was caught smuggling contraband into HMP Northward was arrested on Wednesday, 28 February, during a joint operation by HM Cayman Islands Prison Service, the Department of Public Safety Communications and the police. The RCIPS did not specify what the contraband was or the name of the officer involved. However, CNS has learned that it was Derron Watson, a long-serving member of the prison staff and that he was found carrying ganja into the facility. He was taken to the Prisoner Detention Centre, where he remains in custody pending further investigation, the RCIPS said.

Over the last two years, at least three officers employed by the prison service have been arrested or charged with smuggling drugs into the jail. Former officer Arnold Geovanny Cabrera Diaz admitted to smuggling more than half a pound of ganja into Northward in 2021 and was jailed for two years in December 2022.

Rudolph Rambaran (39), a Jamaican officer from West Bay, was also charged with smuggling ganja and pleaded guilty in February 2022.