By - Officials at Ibara Custodial Centre intercept Shobowale Balikis attempting to smuggle Ethano concealed in a water bottle for an inmate
- Correctional Service says the woman has been handed to police for investigation and possible prosecution
- Incident echoes a similar case weeks earlier, when a mother was caught trying to smuggle drugs to her son on death row at the same facility
Correctional officers at the Ibara Custodial Centre in Ogun State caught a woman on Saturday afternoon trying to sneak alcohol into the facility disguised as ordinary drinking water, the latest in a string of contraband attempts targeting the prison.
Olayinka Odukoya, spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service’s Ogun Command, said officials stopped Shobowale Balikis at around 3:50pm as she tried to pass through the facility’s checkpoints. A search turned up Ethano hidden inside a sealed bottled water pack, an attempt Odukoya described as an effort to disguise the substance well enough to slip it past routine screening on its way to an inmate.
Officers caught the attempt before the alcohol got anywhere near the inmate population, according to the statement, and Balikis has since been handed over to the Nigeria Police Force, with investigators expected to determine what charges, if any, will follow.
A Pattern the Command Says It’s Watching Closely
Abioye Adesina, the Command’s Controller of Corrections, used the incident to reiterate what he called a zero-tolerance policy on contraband entering custodial facilities, framing the interception as proof that the service’s screening measures are working as intended. He said protecting inmates and preserving order inside the facility remained central to the Command’s mandate, and the service reaffirmed its commitment to keeping unauthorised items out of custodial centres going forward.
This is not an isolated case for the facility. Less than a month earlier, on August 28, the same custodial centre intercepted Iyabo Sowunmi during a routine entrance screening, allegedly attempting to bring suspected illicit drugs in for her son, Dare Sowunmi, who is held on death row there. That case, too, ended with the suspect being referred for police investigation.
The two incidents point to a custodial centre that keeps drawing attempts to move contraband past its gates, whether for ordinary inmates or those facing the most severe sentences, and a correctional command now leaning on each foiled attempt as evidence that its checks are catching what gets thrown at them.
