Luxury cell found in Paraguay prison

Police in Paraguay raided a drug lord's prison cell, only to find he was living a life of luxury.

In the three-room cell, they found a conference room, plasma screen television, library and kitchen.

The interior of the cell, which was occupied by Brazilian drug lord Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, has now been destroyed, media in Paraguay report.

Police had learned Pavao was planning to escape by using explosives to blow a hole in the wall of the prison.

View of Tacumbu prison -where Brazilian drug trafficker Jarvis Chimenes Pavao was paying his sentence- in Asuncion on July 28, 2016. Photo taken from AFP

Pavao was due to complete his sentence for money laundering next year, at the end of which he was likely to face extradition to Brazil.

He has now been transferred to a special unit away from his luxury cell in Tacumbu prison, near the capital Asuncion.

An investigation is now under way to see which officials had allowed Pavao to set up his life of luxury.

Prisoners at Tacumbu told Agence France-Presse that anyone wanting to stay in the luxury unit had to pay Pavao a one-off fee of $5,000 (£3,778) and a weekly rent of $600.

"He was the most loved man in this prison," one inmate, Antonio Gonzalez, told AFP.

The cell also had air conditioning, comfortable furniture, an en-suite bathroom and a DVD collection.

With three rooms, a plasma TV, a library, and even DVDs of a Colombian TV series, Brazilian drug lord Jarvis Pavao Chimenes lived in a luxury cell in Tacumbu prison, one of the most crowded of Paraguay. Photo taken from AFP

Among the DVDs were a TV serialisation of the life of Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar.

Escobar, who was killed in 1993, was allowed to design his own prison in a deal struck with Colombian authorities.