drug dealer at the maximum security section of Westgate Correctional Facility is to face a disciplinary hearing.

Acting Commissioner of Prisons Edwin Wilson said the officer has been suspended on pay he has accrued in lieu while a report on the incident is being prepared.

The hearing is expected to be completed next week, said Mr. Wilson.

"We view any breach of security in any prison, but especially the maximum security area as serious if it involves an inmate, but especially so if an officer is alleged to have been responsible for the breach,'' he said last night.

As The Royal Gazette reported yesterday, the officer smuggled in a Rottweiler puppy on Thursday morning, which was found in the cell of a prisoner on remand for drugs charges.

Prison sources were outraged at the incident, because nothing is allowed inside the maximum security area.

A prison insider said officers wanted to know if the dog had been x-rayed in case drugs had been smuggled inside.