PRISON authorities yesterday said they seized 60 sticks of dynamite, three cellular phones and 30 feet of half-inch plastic rope with three half-inch steel hooks at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre during a routine search.

At the same time, a correctional officer, who was found with 55 sticks of ganja during the search, has been arrested and charged by the police.

“The explosives were found at approximately 12:30 pm buried 12 inches in the ground, in the vicinity of the institution’s South Block area,” a news release from the Department of Corrections’ public relations agency said last night.

The rope was buried in a hole 24 feet wide by 18 feet deep.

Yesterday’s search also yielded a Nokia telephone charger, a cellular phone battery and a ratchet knife, the release said.

Prison authorities have, on previous occasions, seized contraband, including knives, crude weapons, cellular phones and drugs from prisoners, particularly at the St Catherine prison and the General Penitentiary in downtown Kingston.

In June 2000, police bomb and forensic experts unearthed five sticks of dynamite that were buried in the North section of the General Penitentiary.