Growing menace of the prison drone smugglers
UNMANNED CRAFT DROP DRUGS AND MOBILES
BY SALLY HIND s.hind@dailyrecord.co.uk
WRENCHES, pills and mobile phones are among the items being dropped into Scottish prisons by drones.
Politicians yesterday branded the situation a “growing menace” as figures revealed unmanned aircraft were either spotted or intercepted by prison staff on 24 occasions in less than three years.
The latest Freedom of Information figures from the Scottish Prison Service show weapons, drugs and phones carried on drones were seized on seven occasions – at a time when dangerous and forbidden items nabbed within the prison estate totalled almost 2000 a year.
Barlinnie in Glasgow was the prison most frequently targeted by drones, with seven known incidents between May 2016 and December 2018.
The latest, on New Year’s Eve, saw a drone carrying four packages, including two wrenches and a substance which tested inconclusive, found in the grounds.
HMP Perth saw six incidents, including one where two bungling smugglers accidentally filmed themselves packing cannabis and pills into a drone bound for the jail.
Paul Reilly, 32, and Michael Martin, 35, were caught after crashing a drone intended to deliver £3000 of drugs to Martin’s brother at Perth Prison in September 2017.
Police studied footage from the camera of the drone and found images of both men who had loaded the drugs into Kinder egg containers.
Reilly was jailed for 33 months at Perth Sheriff Court while Martin was sentenced to a year in prison.
A drug trafficker who tried to smuggle heroin into Saughton prison, Edinburgh, by flying a drone over a built-up area was jailed for more than five years in March 2017.
John Grant, 47, lost control of the aircraft and crashed it into a garden along with its load of drugs and mobile phones.
It contained footage on its camera of Grant and featured GPS co-ordinates of his home.
He admitted being concerned in the supply of heroin and two breaches of Scottish prison legislation in November 2016. Two incidents within three days of each other in September 2017 saw smugglers attempt to deliver seven mobile phones to crooks at Perth Prison.
Other incidents were recorded at Dumfries, Grampian, Polmont and Inverness – where a haul of cannabis, Valium and steroids was recovered from a drone in May 2016.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr branded the situation “completely ridiculous”. He said: “Prisons should be safe and secure environments so that offenders can be rehabilitated.
“This data confirms that criminals are using whatever means possible to smuggle shocking quantities of drugs, weapons and phones into Scotland’s prisons. This is not good enough, the SNP must properly support the prison service so that they can appropriately tackle this growing menace.”
Scottish Labour called on Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to clamp down on new smuggling techniques such as drones.
Daniel Johnson MSP said: “Despite the best efforts of prison staff, Scotland’s jails are awash with drugs and other contraband.
“We know that the figures of contraband found are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The Justice Secretary must set out plans to combat these new smuggling techniques such as drones to stop the spread of drugs in other prisons.”
SPS said “various methods” were used by staff to prevent contraband entering jails.
They added: “Anyone found attempting to smuggle contraband into our prisons will be reported to the police.”