A man has been arrested trying to smuggle up to 50,000 doses of the psychedelic drug lysergic acid (LSD), worth up to $2.5m, into an Auckland prison.

Privately run prisons are on the Government's agenda after Parliament today passed a bill allowing them to be handed over.

A proposal to turn patrol cars into "mobile stations" could make police more effective, top NZ lawyer says.

Police officers will be able to dispense on-the-spot punishments for minor crimes under plans to turn patrol cars into "mobile stations".

199 people were searched at a combined Department of Corrections and police checkpoint at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo on Saturday.