London: Criminal gangs are using dead rats to smuggle contraband material like drugs, tobacco and mobile phones into jail, the Prison Service has acknowledged after cracking the first such case. Drugs, tobacco and mobile phones were smuggled into a prison stuffed inside dead rats. The items were sewn inside the bodies of three rats found by officers in early March in the grounds of HMP Guys Marsh near Shaftesbury, Dorset.

It was the first recorded instance of rats being used in that way, the Prison Service said. It said it was investigating with Dorset Police but was unable to say whether anyone had been arrested, the BBC reported.