smuggling
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Body-scanning chair to show UK prisoners who's BOSS
Not nearly as intrusive as it first sounds, the Body Orifice Security Scanner (BOSS) is a chair-shaped mobile metal detector that officials are considering installing in every prison in England and Wales. Designed mainly to weed out one of the most popular forms of contraband -- cellphones -- the new BOSS II is said to be sensitive enough to detect even a single SIM card being smuggled somewhere inside an individual. So far the two £6,500 ($12,900) chairs that have been used at the Woodhill jail in Milton Keynes since April have helped authorities seize 21 handsets, with inmates who trigger an alert segregated and swiped down by a metal detector every time they leave their cells until the metal object has been, um, passed. While this system does humanely do away with uncomfortable cavity searches, those poor souls with a knee replacement, a bit of shrapnel embedded in their hip, or the like seem destined to toil away in solitary confinement for eternity.[Via SlashGear]
"Pregnant" mother found smuggling cellphones
We already know that Wal-Mart is tightening the leash on prepaid phone purchases in a presumed attempt to slow illegitimate reselling and prevent dicey communications from arranging less-than-pleasant activities, so it's probably not the best time to be walking around airports with a stash of unclaimed mobiles beneath your jacket. Apparently an Egyptian woman wasn't notified of the heightened awareness, nor had she attended any acting classes of late, as security guards at a Cairo airport found 48 cellphones tucked under her clothing when she unsuccessfully claimed to be experiencing "labor pains." While trying to brush through customs untouched, curious personnel caught onto her scheming when they saw "too many" travel stamps in her passport "for a woman in her condition," and discovered "over $17,000 worth" of mobile phones instead of an impregnated belly. Notably, no connection was found between this smuggler and the quick-footed fellow who fled with 39 iPods in just his pants.
Prisoner gets 40 more years for cellphone possession
In a decision being touted by prosecutors as a major victory in the war on inmate cellphone usage, jurors slapped Texan Michael Manor with a surprising 40-year sentence for what they considered the very serious crime of possessing a cellphone in prison. Manor, who was already serving 32 years on auto theft charges, was not even charged with using the phone for criminal purposes; rather, the long sentence comes as a result of a new zero-tolerance cellphone policy in the Texas prison system, where the offense was recently given third-degree felony status. Corrections offers are also a target of the crackdown, with prosecutors promising to bring offenders in front of juries instead of offering them probation, although there are concerns that the stricter penalties may actually make smuggling appear more lucrative.[Via textually]
