Drones used in bid to drop drugs to prisoners

Battle against contraband takes to the air

Drones are being used to attempt to smuggle drugs and jail-breaking equipment into Perth Prison.

The use of airborne technology came to light after a drone missed its prison target, dropping a package in a nearby garden. Police swooped on the Dundee Road property to discover two packages of heroin, compressed cannabis, and equipment including two cables, a screwdriver and mobile phones.

Next, a night-shift officer spotted a drone with a package attached to it by a 20-foot long line. It moved away before prison staff could bring it down.

As smuggling contraband becomes increasingly sophisticated, Perth’s new governor, Fraser Munro, has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent it. New technology is being used alongside police sniffer dogs. The prison has come under fire for drug-related incidents in recent years, including a find of around £100,000 worth of drugs during a crackdown.

A brazen attempt to fly jail breaking tools and drugs into Perth Prison failed when the drone being used dropped the package in a nearby garden.

Police swooped on the property in Dundee Road to discover two packages of heroin and a packet of compressed herbal cannabis, along with two cables, two superglue tubes, a screwdriver, an iphone, four mobile phones with sim cards.

It is not known where the drone operative was working from.

A month later, a nightshift patrol officer at Perth Prison spotted a drone with a package attached to its underside by a 20-foot long line. It moved away from the prison before staff could bring it down and examine its contents.

The use of new airborne technology is the latest weapon against which the high security prison is having to fight in its battle against contraband smuggling.

The prison has come under fire for a series of drug-related incidents in recent years, including the seizure of around £100,000 worth of drugs during a crackdown, with new technology used to detect illegal drugs and paraphernalia.

Despite such audacious efforts to get drugs into the prison, its newly installed governor, Fraser Munro, feels there are adequate measures in place to tackle the “challenging” problem of drugs.

Mr Munro is back in the hot seat after spending nearly two years in a corporate role at the Scottish Prison Service’s headquarters. He said he is optimistic his staff can cope with cracking down on inmates and visitors caught with illegal substances at the Edinburgh Road jail.

“The reality is this is a challenging situation and obviously we try to do everything we can to prevent the introduction of any illicit substance,” he said.

“I don’t know what people are thinking when they try to smuggle drugs in here as they run the risk of a serious custodial sentence if they’re caught.

“The staff do a magnificent job here on behalf of the public of Tayside. We are building on things like the recovery programme in the prison for drug users, which is a positive step, so inmates are taking some responsibility for their own recovery.

“Drugs and assaults face every single prison. When you are talking about several hundred men in a compact environment, these things occur. But it’s our job to try to prevent them and the fact that we’re finding these things augers well.

“It’s not something we condone and we will do everything in our power to prevent it. We deploy intelligence and work with the police in tactical operations to try to prevent drugs and weapons entering the prison.”

Mr Munro stressed the prison still uses a specialist dog team to track people trying to bring drugs into the building at the visitor centre.

Two packages of heroin and one of cannabis, along with cables, superglue, a screwdriver, an iphone, and mobile phones were found strapped to the drone.