3K FOR A CELL PHONE

Prison staff offered huge bribes for smuggling handsets to gangsters

- RORY CASSIDY

GANGSTERS are offering prison officers bribes of up to £3000 to smuggle iPhones into jail.

The sum is the equivalent of almost two months' wages officer's basic pay within the Scottish Prison Service is about £22,000 per year.

The crooks hope that the cost of living crisis will make prison staff more vulnerable to taking risks.

An officer in high-security Shotts Prison told friends he turned down the offer to take in a handset. It came after dozens of iPhones were discovered during a massive security sweep.