Prison visitor arrested after drugs and cash found in car

A visitor to a women's prison has been arrested after staff found more than $20,000 and drugs worth $10,000 in his car.

The man was at Auckland Region Women's Corrections facility on Sunday to pick up a form to apply to be an approved visitor for a prisoner.

"However, anyone arriving on our property can be searched no matter what they are there for, and because of what we found in this man's car, it is unlikely he will be allowed on to the site again for a long, long time," prison manager Agnes Robertson said.

The drugs were primarily packaged as "plugs" - small parcels wrapped in clingfilm for internal concealment.

Prison staff found cannabis and drugs suspected to be dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and ketamine, as well as more than 100 canisters of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.

"In addition to the man facing possible criminal charges, we will also look to ban him from visiting the prison, meaning he won't be able to visit his friend," she said.

- NZPA