A SEMI-automatic handgun reported missing from Lotus Glen Prison near Mareeba may have been stolen from a locked armoury by a prison staffer, authorities suspect.
The Australian Federal Police and an explosives sniffer dog yesterday joined the search for the missing Glock 22 as officials admitted they did not know when the gun vanished.
It could have been missing for weeks. They have also been unable to rule out the possibility the gun was still on prison grounds.
A prison source, who asked not to be named, said the gun had been signed in and locked in a secure armoury before it was noticed missing on Friday. He said the prison went into lockdown and all weekend visits were stopped while guards searched cells and stripped searched prisoners in a bid to find the gun.
"The jail was turned upside down," he said. "All the paperwork reflects that the gun should have been there."
He said the Glock 22, which is also standard police issue and carried by prison officers during prisoner transfers, was noticed missing during a monthly audit and "could have been missing for a while".
The armoury is not checked daily.
Mareeba detectives and corrective services officers are investigating the missing weapon, which is understood not to have included a magazine or ammunition.
"Extra security measures have been implemented and prisoner movements within the centre have been minimised," he said.
"The weapon, a Glock pistol was identified as missing from a locked and sealed armoury cabinet during a routine reconciliation."
The spokesman said the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the agency's Ethical Standards branch was investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
"We don't know how or when it happened," he said.
"That's why it's being investigated.
"And depending on the outcome of the investigation there may be a review of the procedures and amendments to those procedures may need to be made."
The spokesman said it was too early to say if any disciplinary action would be taken.
Lotus Glen is a high-security jail, which also has a low-security prison farm, and houses convicted killers and violent
criminals.
