Drug-filled football intercepted after being thrown into prison, Arkansas guards say

Someone tossed a football filled with drugs and phones over a fence to prisoners inside an Arkansas penitentiary, authorities said.

But it didn’t work.

Prison guards at the Grimes Unit in Newport intercepted the football, not falling for the “fake,” the Arkansas Department of Correction said Friday on Facebook. Corrections officers say they cut open the football to find two types of drugs, seven cell phones and a charging cord hidden inside, pictures show.

The agency hasn’t announced any charges related to the contraband.

The corrections department called stopping contraband a “non-stop battle.”

“Contraband is dangerous,” the department’s Facebook post said. “It can get people hurt or or worse.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2019 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Drug-filled football intercepted after being thrown into prison, Arkansas guards say."