IrelandPrison inmate had €8k of drugs hidden in his backside

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Portlaoise Prison stock

A career criminal who has spent his life being preyed on by more senior criminals was caught with more than €8,000 of drugs hidden in his "back passage" in Ireland's highest security jail. Shane Creighton (45), of Fairlawn Road, Finglas, was recently jailed for two years for supplying drugs into Portlaoise Prison in January 2015.

Among the items taken into jail in his backside were cocaine, heroin, more than 200 tablets, two phials of testosterone and two syringes. The Herald has learned that Creighton was "under pressure" to take drugs into jail by "serious criminals" from north Dublin. However, he was to be paid for doing it by being given some of the drugs stash.

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Creighton has a history of being picked on by more senior criminals, and in one incident a number of years ago a "cruel prank" was played on him when one gangster phoned him pretending to be a detective. "This was a cruel prank because a recording of the conversation was made and then distributed around the place," a source said. "He is basically a down-and-out drug addict who has been picked on by other criminals for years."

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Portlaoise Circuit Court heard Creighton had been a prisoner unlawfully at large at the time he was busted and presented himself at prison. He was searched while being detained and his cell was checked. The drugs were found in him and in the cell. He was serving a sentence for robbery at the time of the offences but has since completed this.

A bench warrant for his arrest in relation to the drugs charge was issued in June last year and he was arrested in January. The court heard he had a drug debt at the time. Creighton had 27 previous convictions, including for robbery, burglary, possession of a knife and minor road traffic offences. Drug use remains a major problem in Irish prisons.

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The 62-year-old was taken to the US to stand trial after he twice broke out of Mexican prisons. The guilty verdict triggered a mandatory sentence of life without parole. Guzman told US District Judge Brian Cogan before he was sentenced that he was denied a fair trial. He said Judge Cogan failed to thoroughly investigate claims of juror misconduct. Under Guzman’s leadership, the Sinaloa cartel was responsible for multiple murders and smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the US. Guzman’s lawyers said he was framed.

According to the latest statistics, there were more than 1,100 drug seizures in Irish prisons last year as part of ongoing efforts to clamp down on contraband, an increase from 1,018 in 2017. Wheatfield Prison had the most seizures of any prison at 403, while there were 221 in Mountjoy and 155 in Cloverhill. High-security Portlaoise Prison, where Creighton was busted, traditionally has one of the lowest figures for drug seizures in the Irish prison system.

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