Prisons 'winning battle' against drugs-to-order drones
Scottish prison bosses say a pilot scheme to combat the problem of drones being used to deliver drugs and weapons into jails is helping to dismantle organised crime networks.Drones have become a preferred method of delivery for illegal items ordered by inmates.Drugs, phones and technology have all been smuggled into the Scottish prison estate, with the size of drones and their cargo increasing in recent months.In January, police reported a crash involving a drone carrying a package of drugs close HMP Edinburgh.
'Every prisoner's wish list'
Inside Perth Prison, unit manager John Baird shows off a six-rotor drone intercepted by staff recently.It was carrying a load worth up to £10,000 - items that mark the currency of organised crime behind bars.Laid out on a table is the haul of drugs, syringes, phones and other highly-prized items intended for inmates.He told BBC Scotland News: "The drone is public enemy number one at the moment."This one, we recovered, and we got all the packages as well. They were suspended underneath on a length of fishing line."Everybody's wish list is in here. The iPhone is the one we see most often. We have smart phones that are easily concealed. "We also have phones that can be concealed internally. They're standard dial phones. We've actually had someone swallow one of these in front of us."
He said an iPhone could be worth £5,000 inside a prison."We also see dongles, they just need a Sim card and they plug that in and have instant wifi."We've also had chip cards which they can put into Xboxes, which turns that into a communications device."Tobacco is also big on the smuggling list, as is cannabis, but Mr Baird said they have recently found needles, syringes and steroids, as well as street Valium.Stopping the drones getting in has become a priority and six months ago Perth Prison introduced secure window grilles.As a result, there have been no drone breaches within that period.
Ian Whitehead, head of operations at the Scottish Prison Service, said: "Drugs and the need for drugs drives debt, violence and a whole range of behaviours that are difficult to deal with."This is designed to minimise the introduction and movement of drugs in any meaningful way."We've got high hopes for this and we've got a monitoring process, so if there's a weakness, we can adapt to that and engineer a counter-measure."
Perth has been particularly prone to the drone problem due to its geography. In a semi-rural location, it has a good line of sight and as radio waves travel in a straight line , it is easy for a pilot to move things in.Mr Whitehead added: "Some of the drones can carry quite large cargoes. So instead of something coming in a tennis ball, you introduce something that's 10 times that. So you've got a big cargo of commodity to come in and that can last a long time."He said that in his 36 years on the job, drug use had changed from cannabis and heroin to psychoactive substances.The SPS said it had also installed the grilles in Edinburgh and Glenochil prisons and would consider a broader roll-out in the future as well as specific measures for each location.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Russian drones strike dwellings in Ukraine's Kharkiv, injure nine, mayor says
June 5 (Reuters) - Russian drones struck apartment buildings in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, triggering fires and injuring at least nine people, the city's mayor said early on Thursday. Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said there had been six strikes in the city. One drone hit an apartment building on the 17th floor, another on the second floor. Emergency services had been dispatched to the sites. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Kharkiv, located 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, has been a frequent target of Russian drones and missiles in the more than three-year-old war.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Family of murdered Lyons kingpin Ross Monaghan say notorious rivals DIDN'T order executions
THE grief-stricken family of murdered Lyons gang kingpin Ross Monaghan last night sensationally said their Daniel clan enemies are not to blame. We can reveal the bitter Glasgow rivals have put their own conflict on hold amid suspicions a foreign crew ordered the Costa del Sol pub hit on hoods Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46. 3 3 3 The relative said: 'The one thing people need to know is the Daniels are not behind this. "There are other theories about who is behind it, but the one thing we know for sure is it's got nothing to do with the Daniels or Mark Richardson.' The relative also insisted that despite leading lives of crime, both victims were much-loved family men. Tragically, Eddie Lyons Jnr's death came just weeks after his teenage daughter passed away from illness. The relative added: 'Ross obviously did what he did and the family accept that, but people have been saying some very horrible things. 'They have to remember Ross was a father and a son. Eddie had only just buried his daughter and so you can imagine this has hit everyone extremely hard — none more so than his brother Steven Lyons who is extremely upset.' The Lyons and Daniels have been at war for decades, with both sides involved in sickening violence. We told yesterday how the under-siege Daniels are said to have set aside £500,000 to deal with potential revenge attacks amid fears they would be wrongly blamed for the killings. A source said: 'Neither side can take the moral high ground but for once there is genuine shock at what's happened in Spain on both sides. 'The last thing the Lyons and the Daniels need is more bloodshed, so it's easy to see why they want to make it clear that these murders are the work of another crime gang operating outside Scotland.' Spanish cops are continuing to hunt the gunman who struck in Fuengirola on Saturday. Police Scotland has also ruled out claims the assassinations were plotted by warring mobsters here.
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
Jury convicts Wisconsin inmate accused of killing cellmate for being Black and gay
A Wisconsin man doing time for trying to kill his mother was convicted Wednesday of strangling his cellmate to death. A jury found Jackson Vogel, 25, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the death of 19-year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution last year, WLUK-TV reported. Vogel told investigators he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay. Vogel's attorneys, public defenders Ann Larson and Luke Harrison, didn't immediately return voicemail messages seeking comment. He faces a mandatory life sentence when he is sentenced on June 27. He is already serving a 20-year prison term handed down in 2018 for repeatedly stabbing his mother, strangling her and attempting to snap her neck, according to an appellate opinion upholding that conviction. A guard found Laureano's body hanging from the top bunk of the cell he shared with Vogel on Aug. 27, according to a criminal complaint. Laureano's hands and feet were tied together with orange material. Vogel, who is white, told the guard that he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay, the complaint said. He said he knocked Laureano out, tied his hands and feet and strangled him. Investigators discovered numerous cut strips of orange cloth around the cell as well as a handwritten note that said, 'Kill all humans!' followed by profanities directed at Black people and gay people, according to the complaint. Laureano was serving a three-year sentence in battery and robbery cases. His mother, Phyllis Laureano, filed a federal lawsuit in February accusing prison officials of failing to protect him from Vogel. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Green Bay Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility, opened in 1898. Republicans have been calling for years to close the prison along with the Waupun Correctional Institution, another maximum security facility where seven inmates have died since 2023. But concerns over job losses and the cost of building a new prison have stymied any progress on either front.
