LITHGOW Court has been told that tobacco with a retail value of less than $20 would be worth around $500 as contraband brought into the prison system.
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Cigarettes last year joined illegal drugs on the schedule of banned substances after smoking rights were removed from NSW jails.
In the latest sittings of Lithgow Court Nicola Benar, 25, of Woollahra, was charged with attempting to take tobacco into the Lithgow Correctional Centre.
It was the first such charge to come before the local court.
During monitoring of visitors on January 30 she was found in possession of five small balloons containing 13.7 grams of tobacco.
Police said that the banned tobacco would attract around $500 from inmates.
In Lithgow tobacconist stores the minimum packet of tobacco available is 20 grams retailing for just over $18.
Magistrate Michael Allen imposed a fine of $300 (and ordered destruction of the tobacco).
