THIS IS the tiny key fob mobile phone that is being snapped up by criminals in a bid to beat the Irish Prison Service's multi-million euro X-ray scanners.

The Chinese-made 'BMW X6' phone is designed in the shape of a fob and is being marketed as the world's smallest mobile.

They are fully functioning phones, but look exactly like the gadgets used to open top-of-the-range cars such as BMW's.

A prison source has revealed the devices have been nicknamed 'Beat the BOSS' phones by inmates and are exchanging hands for as much as €800.
In 2008, prison chiefs installed eight Body Orifice Security Scanners- nicknamed the BOSS - in a number of Irish jails.



Detect

The high-tech X-ray scanners allow officers to detect internally con-cealed drugs and phones.

However, the key fob phones are made entirely of plastic and are not believed to be detectable by the air-port-style scanners.

The size of the mobile phones also makes them appealing for potential smugglers,as the devices have to brought into the jail internally.

A source said:
"Intelligence was received that there were two of the phones smuggled into Limerick Prison last month, they are being bought on the internet."

The BOSS chair is designed to detect items like weapons, mobile phones and drugs concealed by inmates in body cavities.
The chair includes a metal detector,which is fixed to the seat and scans the subject's body cavities in a non-intrusive manner.

But despite the introduction of the BOSS chairs, Irish jails are still awash with contraband.

In 2011, there were 1,325 drug seizures and 1,387 mobiles taken from inmates in Irish jails.
A staggering 664 were seized in Mount joy between January and September - more than two phones a day. Mount joy was also the worst drugs den with 569 cases of illegal sub-stances being smuggled in to the overcrowded jail.

Last month, mobster Brian Rattigan became the first criminal to be found guilty of directing the supply of drugs while behind bars. The Special

Criminal Court ruled that Rattigan (32) was the director of a gang behind a £1 million operation on May 21, 2008,from his cell in Portlaoise Prison.