24 drone sightings at prisons in last 3 years

DRONES have been spotted flying over Scottish prisons 24 times in three years as smugglers tried to pass illicit goods to inmates.

Packages recovered from the devices have contained cannabis, steroids, weapons and mobile phones.

Drones have been seen in the perimeter of Barlinnie in Glasgow, HMP Edinburgh, Inverness, Dumfries, Perth, Grampian in Aberdeenshire, and Polmont near Falkirk.

Figures released by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) revealed Barlinnie had the highest number of drone sightings between 2016 and 2018 at seven.

A package dropped from a drone into the prison grounds last year contained two hand wrenches while another left in 2016 had 36 pills in it.

There were six drones spotted at Perth Prison where goods recovered included mobile phones with chargers and more than 60g of cannabis resin.

A drone flown into HMP Inverness in May 2016 had 106 steroid pills, 89 diazepam tablets and 8g of cannabis.

Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: ‘The number of these drone incidents is concerning and shows the ingenuity of criminals. We have to look at how to deal with them and what could be done to prevent people attempting to fly drones into jails.’

An SPS spokesman said: ‘We are working to target those who attempt to introduce contraband into our prisons.’