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Four teenagers arrested after drone seen hovering above high-security prison

Four teenagers arrested after drone seen hovering above high-security prison

Independent11-07-2025
Four teenagers have been arrested after reports of a drone circling over a maximum-security jail led to the seizure of contraband including drug paraphernalia.
A drone, mobile phones and suspected drugs were also found after a car containing the suspects, aged 15, 16, 18 and 19, was stopped on the A46 in Alcester, Warwickshire.
West Mercia Police said a seized 'contraband package' was believed to be intended to be flown into HMP Long Lartin in south Worcestershire in the early hours of Friday.
The force said in a statement: 'A report was received shortly before 2am today that a drone was circling the airspace above the prison in South Littleton.
' Inquiries were made and patrol officers were on the tail of a suspect vehicle by 2.25am.
'The car was stopped on the A46 in Alcester with four people inside.
'A quick response and good co-ordinated work meant the contraband package had not made it into the prison and it was seized.'
Those arrested were held on suspicion of conspiracy to convey prohibited items into a prison and remain in police custody.
Detective Chief Inspector James Bamber said: 'An immediate response from us and good policing work by everyone involved meant we were able to intercept a suspect vehicle before it reached its suspected final destination.'
Anyone who spots a drone near the prison or who has information about other suspicious activity near HMP Long Lartin is urged to report the matter via 999 immediately.
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Inside Diddy's grim likely future in one of the four federal prisons where he could be locked up
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Sean 'Diddy' Combs won't get the 'Club Fed' treatment when he is finally sentenced to prison, but he could have more freedom than he's experienced since his 2024 arrest. Federal prison consultant Sam Mangel told the Daily Mail that Combs will more than likely end up in a low-level security facility for the next five to six years after he is sentenced on October 3. That means the disgraced mogul will have more opportunities to interact with his family than he has for the past 11 months while at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he's been held during his criminal trial. 'Given the fact that he has been in custody since last year at a maximum-security facility and will now be going to a low-security facility, I'm sure that he will be better prepared than someone just taken right off the street,' Mangel said. The consultant added that he'll have more 'freedom and liberty.' 'As far as his family goes, visits will be much easier. 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Prison consultant Sam Mangel (pictured) said Diddy should avoid specific facilities '[Combs] is precluded - regardless of his sentence - from going to a minimum-security camp,' the federal prison consultant said. 'Low security will typically have sex offenders who are sentenced 20 years or less. Combs was spared possible decades to life in federal prison after a jury unanimously found him not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking on July 2. Jurors, however, found Diddy guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which could bring a maximum sentence of 10 years for each count. Jennifer Beidel, legal expert and former assistant US attorney at the Southern District of New York, told the Daily Mail that Combs will more than likely serve three to four years for each count, which the judge could run concurrently. 'It will have some violent people, but they made their way down through the system,' Beidel said. 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Donald Trump, served a four-month sentence in FCI Danbury in October 2024 for contempt of Congress. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail shortly after his release, Bannon said serving a few months in Danbury was 'extremely difficult.' 'I'm 70 years old. I can tell you, there's not many 70-year-olds I know on Wall Street or in the political class that could go to a federal prison for four months,' he said. 'These places are violent places. There's lots of drugs. This drug, K2, is all over these prisons.' K2 is synthetic marijuana, also known as 'spice', that can be sprayed onto paper and smuggled into jails. Steve Bannon (center) former chief strategist for President Donald Trump, served a four-month sentence in FCI Danbury, one of the federal lock ups that Diddy's legal team should consider, Sam Mangel told the Daily Mail Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island in California (pictured) is currently housing former lawyer Michael Avenatti, who gained fame after he represented porn star Stormy Daniels Mangel said three other prisons would also be more suitable for Diddy, including FCI Terminal Island in California, FCI Loretto in Pennsylvania and FCI Jesup in Georgia. Michael Avenatti, who represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Trump, is serving a 14-year sentence in Terminal Island for dodging taxes and stealing about $12 million from clients. The federal prison in Pennsylvania made the news in 2012 after actor Michael Douglas' son, Cameron, was attacked in the FCI Loretto where he served a seven-year term for heroin possession and dealing methamphetamine and cocaine. Cameron was attacked at the Pennsylvania facility after testifying against drug dealers, which helped him get a lesser prison term. He suffered severe injuries, including a broken leg and fingers during the attack. 'If I was working with his legal team, I would think very carefully and look for the best low-security facility, and there is a number where Mr. Combs will be perfectly fine and safe,' Mangel said. 'However, there are others where he won't.' The prison consultant said he would strongly vote against two particular low-security facilities, including FCI Miami and FCI Beaumont in Texas. While Diddy has ties to Miami and still has a home in posh Star Island, Mangel said the rapper should try to stay away from those two federal facilities. Mangel said he has a client who is currently serving time in the low-security area in the Miami facility, which allegedly has been overrun with gangs and detainees who are facing deportation. 'My client in Miami is just miserable because that facility is also being used as an immigration detention center,' the consultant said. 'Not only do you have a population of possibly violent individuals who have sentences of less than 20 years, there also are certainly gang members and pedophiles. It's a real problem. The place is also at capacity because of the immigration problem. He added, 'It is the worst low-security facility in the country. People who work in that facility have told me they are constantly on lockdown because of violence. If I were advising Combs, I would advise him to stay away from there as far as possible.' FCI Loretto in Pennsylvania (pictured) is another facility that has a low-level security area Mangel said one of the worst placed Diddy could end up in is FCI Miami (pictured), where gang violence and tensions among inmates could be a huge safety concern for the disgraced Bad Boy Records mogul A report from a local NBC affiliate said FCI Miami has had a number of issues with gangs as more 'dangerous' and violent inmates have filled the population even though it's a low-security facility. A 'bloody brawl' among inmates broke out last year that caused a major lock down, and employees at MCI Miami said fights among rival gangs have increased, according to the NBC report. FCI Miami has housed notorious inmates, including Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega before he was extradited to France in 2010 to face money laundering charges. Lou Pearlman, who founded boy bands NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, was serving a 25-year sentence at the Miami lock up after he pleaded guilty in 2008 for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that cost investors about $300 million. Perlman, 62, died at the federal facility in 2016 from cardiac arrest. Former NFL star Darren Sharper, who was convicted of aggravated rape and drug-related charges, is currently serving a 20-year sentence in Miami. He is scheduled to be released in 2028. Mangel said the Beaumont prison also has the same issues of prison gangs and overcrowding because of the prison demographics. 'There are low-security facilities that have a very high gang population, and Beaumont definitely has that issue,' Mangel said. 'Any facility on the border will have that problem.' 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