The UK’s Ministry of Justice has warned that the number of incidents of criminals using drones to smuggle banned items into prison has more than doubled in the first half of 2015, according to The Independent.
Up until May this year, there had been nine attempts to use drones in this way in England and Wales. The figure may be small, but represents a significant increase from the four attempts registered across the whole of 2014.
Speaking at a conference in London, Eve Richard, a senior analyst at the National Offender Management Service intelligence unit said that it’s “not a huge issue at the moment” but that it could be considered an “emerging threat.”
With the falling cost of consumer drones, it’s likely that the number of attempts to smuggle drugs, weapons, mobile phones and any other items into prisons will continue to increase.
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There’s no suggestion that any of the attempts have been successful, but then authorities likely wouldn’t know about the successful attempts that evaded detection.
➤ Drones operated by criminal gangs used to deliver drugs, mobile phones and potentially firearms to prisoners, admit senior officials [The Independent]
Featured image credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com
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