‘Sopranos’ drone scam grounded
TV BOXSETS, MINI PHONES, SIM CARDS AND DRUGS SMUGGLED INTO STRANGEWAYS
GANGSTERS at Strangeways tried to get TV boxsets smuggled in by drone so they could binge-watch behind bars.
Traffickers are using the latest technology – including virtual reality goggles and bespoke unmanned aircraft – to satisfy the demand for drugs and entertainment from bored inmates.
Episodes of cult series The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy were downloaded on to USB sticks and included in a haul of contraband attached to an unmanned aircraft in one smuggling bid.
The DJI Phantom drone was also carrying special software which would have allowed the shows to be watched on Playstation 2s, which prisoners are allowed to use at HMP Manchester.
Also in the illicit load were Spice and cannabis resin – packaged so they could be hidden inside the body – along with a dozen sim cards and seven tiny phones capable of beating metal detectors.
In jail drugs fetch five times as much as they do on the street – so the Spice and cannabis was worth nearly £25,000 alone. But the extraordinary plot failed after the drone became caught in security netting at the Victorian jail, which houses some of the country’s most high-security prisoners.
The boxset drone mission was one of a series of night-flights that set off from Crumpsall in an underworld delivery service.
Eight days later an identical drone was intercepted by prison officers and found to contain drugs worth £36,650 behind bars.
Details emerged as drone pilot Damon Keegan, 25, from Crumpsall was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to three years and four months in jail. He used a £1,000 DJI Phantom model in each of the two failed smuggling bids, back in June, and was linked by fingerprint and communications evidence.
Keegan was part of a tight-knit circle of drone smugglers and made deliveries to prisons across the north west.
A cache of hi-tech equipment was recovered from his home in August.
Back then police searched a house in Droylsden looking for him after they were informed by a relative his life could be under threat from Liverpool gangsters. Officers recovered a bespoke drone, and a pair of virtual reality goggles which allows the pilot to see what the drone sees via a live camera, from the property. There was also a drone
carrying harness, electronic devices, empty balloons and a balloon filled with suspected Spice.
A few days after those items were seized, Keegan was linked to a suspected smuggling bid.
Police chased a stolen Volkswagen Golf R at junction 1 of the M65 in East Lancashire.
The car was abandoned and the occupants fled – leaving behind sets of number plates in the boot, bolt cutters, and gloves with Keegan’s DNA on, as well as large cellophane wrapped packages containing phones and drugs. Inside a rucksack on the backseat was a large drone.
Police believe Keegan was in the area to make another drone delivery to one of the local prisons, possibly HMP Garth.
He was finally arrested on November 28 and when interviewed admitted making drone deliveries to prisons across the region.
Keegan was jailed for house burglary in 2015 in Stockport. As he was chased by a neighbour he ran into the path of a car, sustaining serious injuries to his leg which have left him with a permanent limp.
During his time in Strangeways, between October 2015 and March 2017, it was suspected he was heavily involved in organising deliveries of contraband into the prison by remote drone, as he was seen tampering with cell window grilles and sticking his hand outside to make collections.
During the early hours of April 3 last year, staff at HMP Manchester saw a drone with a large package attached to it.
Keegan reached out and grabbed the package from inside. But a search of his room found nothing – it is believed the contents of the packages had already been distributed.
Detective Constable Adam Cronshaw said after Keegan was sent down: “Keegan was essentially an airborne drug dealer. He knew that trafficking drugs and phones into prisons can be very lucrative and thought that by using drones he wouldn’t get arrested.
“The mini-mobile phones can be used to facilitate serious crime, witness intimidation and planning of escapes.”
Keegan pleaded guilty to three offences, one of conspiring to convey list A items into prison (drugs), one of conspiring to convey list B items into prison (mobile phones), and one count of encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence. He was jailed for three years and four months.