A contraband search conducted at the Manhattan Detention Complex yielded a massive haul of weed, cigarettes, cellphones, electrical cords and even barbecue sauce.

Authorities found the contraband in a ceiling vent in an inmate shower area of the lower Manhattan facility, the New York Daily News reports.

Included in the stash were a pack of Newports, a lighter, vape pen, numerous iPhones, some five ounces of cannabis, loosies, cellphone charges and even barbecue sauce.

The barbecue sauce was an 18oz bottle of Kraft Sweet Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce.

Authorities found the contraband in a ceiling vent in an inmate shower area of the lower Manhattan facility

Inside city jails, phones are strictly prohibited as they are used to intimidate witnesses and facilitate the running of contraband

'The inmates use the warmers that warm up the food to make special barbecue chicken,' said Fitzgerald David, a retired corrections officer. 'They use it to flavor up their chicken on chicken day.'

David added that inmates have to get innovative to add flavor to the bland chicken they get from the facility.

'If you put meat on the electric warmers for a long period of time it cooks even more. It'll brown the meat, make it ... like fried chicken,' David added.

'Somebody had to bring that to them. There's no way in hell an inmate can get f--king barbecue sauce in jail unless someone brings it to them.'

The seizure comes a day after reports that the Department of Corrections is investigating a video of several inmates dancing and rapping in a cell in the Tombs

The seizure comes a day after reports that the Department of Corrections is investigating a video of several inmates dancing and rapping in a cell in the Tombs.

The video was posted onto Instagram last week, according to a DOC insider. But according to a spokesman for the DOC, investigators are trying to determine when the video was first posted

Inside city jails, phones are strictly prohibited as they are used to intimidate witnesses and facilitate the running of contraband.