Rio de Janeiro  - A Brazilian drug boss lived behind bars as if he were in a luxury hotel, continuing to handle his business from jail, and even having a copy of the cell key, Brazilian media reported Wednesday.

Luciano de Oliveira, the head of the Lemos de Brito prison in the north-eastern city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia, was reportedly sacked in connection with the case. However, he continued to justify his own actions.

"The police knew of these alleviations of life in prison, which were even approved by justice officials," Brito told television on Wednesday.

During a raid Monday on the cell occupied by drug boss Genilson Lino da Silva, the authorities found some 170,000 dollars under the mattress of a double bed. They also seized two guns, cocaine and marijuana, as well as six cellphones.

According to the authorities, Da Silva had in his cell a plasma television set, fitness equipment and a fridge full of delicacies.

The drug boss, 35, is suspected of having led from jail a huge criminal gang, which dealt in drugs, held up banks and hired their services to kill and kidnap people.

In the framework of the operation, 26 people suspected of being part of the gang have been arrested in recent days.

In the meantime, the state government announced the transfer of Da Silva to a maximum security facility outside Bahia.

The fact that a drug boss enjoyed privileges in prison is not new in Brazil.

"We knew that he lived comfortably, that he enjoyed concessions and that he could walk around freely as if he were in an amusement park. We did not know, however, that we would find so much money in his possession," one police spokesman said.

The wives of "normal" prisoners demonstrated Tuesday before the prison gates against the "two-tier society" inside the walls and demanded better conditions for their husbands.

Brazil has some 500 jails, most of which are old and filled far beyond their official capacity. Mutinies, sometimes lethal; escape attempts, drug dealing and mistreatment of inmates by poorly-paid personnel happen frequently. (dpa)