RIKERS ISLAND — A drug-sniffing dog named Gunner busted a city correction officer for trying to smuggle synthetic marijuana into Rikers Island, according to the Department of Investigation.
Officer Mohammed Sufian, 25, was arrested on Wednesday after he was caught with 61.6 grams of the drug commonly known as K2 hidden in his socks and wrapped in black electrical tape during the 3 p.m. shift change at Rikers, the DOI said.
Four more packages of the drug were found in Sufian's home, along with one package of tobacco, all of which he planned to bring to Rikers as well, according to the city.
Sufian was paid $500 the night before being arrested and was supposed to get the rest of his money after he delivered the contraband, and he has been suspended from his job due to the arrest, according to court documents and the DOI.
He has been charged with receiving a bribe and promoting dangerous prison contraband.
Gunner is a two-and-a-half year-old male chocolate lab who was certified to detect drugs in November and has been working with the DOI since then.
The DOI busted Sufian in collaboration with the Department of Correction and the Bronx District Attorney's Office, which has pledged to set up an office on Rikers Island.
“Smuggling contraband into Rikers Island jeopardizes inmates, staff and honest correction officers who wear their uniforms with pride, and who undertake dangerous, difficult work every single day," Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. "To address the problem of contraband entering these facilities, among other systemic issues at Rikers, I am working with all the stakeholders to establish an office at the Island to demonstrate to everyone that justice will be dispensed swiftly and surely.”
