San Salvador - A Salvadoran woman was detained after she tried to smuggle into the country's main prison a military grenade and marijuana hidden in her vagina, authorities said on Wednesday.
Officials subsequently raised the security level at jails across the country, prison system spokesperson Alberto Uribe said, adding that the discovery showed "the inmates are planning something".
Lidia Alvarado, 44, was found hiding a 27-centimetre-long, five-centimetre-wide cylinder containing the weapon and the drugs, as she entered La Esperanza prison on the north-eastern outskirts of the capital of San Salvador, Uribe said.
She was turned over to police and charged with illegal weapons possession and drug trafficking, he said. Police who inspected the M-67 grenade said it was in working condition.
Alvarado was visiting two inmates, serving 25 and 30 years. Each had been convicted of rape, robbery and illegal arms possession.
Prison Director Wilson Galeas was quoted by the daily newspaper La Prensa Grafica as saying it was not the first time Alvarado had visited the two convicts. - Sapa-AP