Questions still remained unanswered last night over the bungled drugs swoop at Westgate Prison which saw armed Police officers denied entry.

Despite a press conference hosted by Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay and Acting Commissioner of Prisons Marvin Trott yesterday afternoon, it was not fully explained how or why the operation had not gone smoothly.

Mr. Lemay said he would be the first to admit the operation did not go as well as planned, but said people should not look negatively at it, as lessons had been learned.

The Royal Gazette reported on Thursday how an "amicable'' confrontation had arisen between the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Prison officials when they arrived to carry out the raid soon after noon on Wednesday.

The bust was originally organised with the aim of searching for any illicit drugs at the prison, but at some point Police were tipped off that a firearm may also have been hidden on the premises, requiring the assistance of armed officers.

Police and Prison chiefs met 24 hours prior to the raid to finalise details, but when the time came for armed forces to move in, problems arose as prison staff had not been informed.

As well as the fact that legislation for Police and prisons is different, with ERT officers not automatically being allowed into jail areas, the prison official in charge of the operation was delayed in arriving at the scene.

After a stand-off for about 20 minutes while they waited for the prison boss to arrive, about 25 plain clothes officers were finally allowed in to search the administrative sections of the prison, including the maximum security area, but the ERT was left in the foyer in case their presence incited trouble.

But Mr. Lemay did not make it clear when the firearms tip-off was given to Police -- either before or after the Tuesday meeting -- and whether or not the change of plan had been communicated to the relevant Prison officials.

Even after the prison officer in charge arrived on the scene, the ERT was still not permitted entry.

It was also not made clear whether or not prison officers were aware that the raid was going to take place.

If they were, surely there is a possibility that the secret could have got back to the prisoners.

If prison staff were deliberately kept in the dark, then what right would they have to refuse the ERT officers at all?.

Last night, a Police spokesman also refused to say whether this was the first joint operation to be organised between the two bodies, and if not, why the differences in legislation had never been picked up before.

No firearm was found during the raid, and Mr. Lemay said yesterday that only very small traces of drugs had been found in the search.

He said he did not know whether or not the drugs had been flushed away, hidden or used earlier, but he said despite the poor findings, the operation had played a useful role.

Senior Police and prison staff have met since the incident to discuss how improvements could be made.

"Some valuable lessons have been learned in this exercise,'' said Mr. Lemay.

"A Memorandum of Understanding will be prepared to establish the role that will be followed in future operations.

"There are some legal issues we have to address.

"As Police had received information about a possible existence of a firearm...an issue arose with ERT being deployed into the prison. I believe in future this will no longer be an issue.

"We should look at it in a positive way -- moving forward in the right direction.'' He said the ERT officers were not left standing outside, as stated in the media, but were invited in until the problems had been solved.

He added: "The important thing to remember here is that a lesson has been learned.

"Two organisations have been able to sit down and have been able to map for the coming weeks and days a way to get together and ensure that future operations get maximum results.'' Mr. Trott said he was happy with the way his staff had acted on Wednesday.

He said some unlawful items were found in the search, including home brewed alcohol, but he said the likelihood of a firearm being in the prison now was "minuscule.'' And he said only those inmates in isolation would have been able to see the Police arrive, and they would have been unable to pass the word on to anyone else.

He added: "ERT was not utilised, but searches of those areas where they were planned were carried out, including maximum security.''