Fence helps thwart smuggling attempt

    A man’s attempt to sneak contraband into the Drumheller Institution failed not only because corrections officers thwarted it, but also because his throwing arm wasn’t quite in top form.     Brian Dobbin, 29, appeared in provincial court in Drumheller via closed circuit television on Wednesday, March 2. He pleadded guilty to three counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking.
    The court heard how on May 14, 2010 at around 10 p.m. a mobile patrol of the perimeter of the Drumheller Institution observed a man running across the road outside the penitentiary. The officers observed the man attempt to throw a black package over the fence aimed at an area accessible to inmates. The package didn’t quite make it over the fence and was hung up in the razor wire.
    Dobbin was detained and when officers recovered the package it contained 20 grams of cannabis resin, 0.2 grams of crack cocaine and five morphine capsules. The parcel also contained packages of tobacco as well as cell phones and chargers. The institutional value of the cache is in the area of $20,000.
    Dobbin was a former inmate at the Drumheller Institution and had been at liberty for about eight months. Defence for Dobbin told the court that his client was put in a position where he feared for the safety of himself and his family and attempted the smuggle as an act of desperation. He also said it was an unsophisticated attempt at smuggling and almost comical in competence. Dobbin requested that his sentence be no less than two years as to avail himself to the programs offered in a federal institution, but expressed reservations at serving in the Drumheller Institution.
    Judge Grieve accepted a joint submission from the Federal Prosecutor and defence of a joint submission of two years.