What is believed to be heroin was found this morning in a prisoner's cell in Corradino, the Government said.

It said in a statement the administration of the prisons carried out a raid after it received confidential information.

A mobile phone, which is not permitted according to the regulations of the facility, was also found in the workshop where this prisoner in whose cell the drug was found worked.

The drug was removed by the Drug Squad.

Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia congratulated the prison authorities for taking the fight against drugs seriously.

He recalled that during one of the raids in September, he had warned the administration not to put its mind at rest because no drugs had been found on that day.

The fight against drugs had to be continuous, he said as he encouraged the administration to continue carrying out more frequent inspections.

But in a statement this evening, the Nationalist Party accused the Government of using two weights and two measures.

Nationalist Party spokesman Jason Azzopardi said that whenever drugs were found in the prisons in past years, the Labour Party’s Opposition spokesman used to issue hysterical statements attacking the Government saying that it had lost control of the prisons, that there was a disaster and that the prisons had become a joke.

He would do this to then declare a lack of confidence in the minister and call for his resignation.

Today, the Labour Government boasted that drugs were found even though police investigations were still underway. Had the statement been issued by the Opposition, the Government would have accused it of hindering the investigations.

Dr Azzopardi said that it was all the more becoming clearer that the Government used two weights and two measures according to what suited it best.

The PN asked how was it that what was wrong before the election had now become right and licit.