A drone has been used in a daring night-time attempt to smuggle drugs and weapons into a high security jail.<\/p>\n

The plan was only thwarted when the machine became entangled in razor wire on a security wall and was then spotted by staff at Bedford Prison.<\/p>\n

It is the first known case of a remote-controlled aircraft being used to infiltrate a British jail.<\/p>\n

The Chinese-made machine was carrying a package containing drugs, mobile phones, screwdrivers and a knife.<\/p>\n

Prison staff spotted it on the razor wire and managed to retrieve it.<\/p>\n

One theory is that the \u2018pilot\u2019 planned to direct the drone to a spot where it could hover outside a cell window.<\/p>\n

A prisoner might then have been able to reach out and grab the illicit cargo.<\/p>\n

The miniature aircrafts are already a major concern to police, who want to be given powers to seize them if they suspect they are being misused.<\/p>\n

The one flown into Bedford Prison two weeks ago was a DJI Phantom 2 Vision, which weighs just 2.5lbs but has a range of nearly half a mile.<\/p>\n

The device is fitted with a wide-angle camera and can be bought online or at an electrical retailer for around \u00a3900.<\/p>\n

A Bedfordshire Police spokesman said: \u2018We were called to reports that a small drone had been discovered alongside a package at HMP Bedford at 11.30pm on March 6.<\/p>\n

\u2018Both the device and the contents of the package are currently being examined and investigations are on-going.\u2019<\/p>\n

The jail can contain around 500 inmates.<\/p>\n

A recent report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons said the main challenge facing staff was the prevention of \u2018the inward trafficking of unauthorised items, including mobile telephones and illegal drugs\u2019.<\/p>\n

Adam Bailey, of the Association of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, said: \u2018It\u2019s a pretty stupid way of trying to get stuff into a prison.<\/p>\n

\u2018A drone sounds like a swarm of bees and has flashing lights so you\u2019re likely to attract attention. You\u2019d have to be very skilled to pull this off and these guys clearly weren\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n

A possible rehearsal for the drone\u2019s flight may have taken place a month ago.<\/p>\n

Farhat Erdogan, who works in a Londis store close to the site, said he thought two men had been involved.<\/p>\n

Mr Erdogan, 29, said: \u2018I saw these guys in their 30s with a drone and wondered what they were doing.<\/p>\n

\u2018They were standing near traffic lights a couple of hundred yards from the prison. I watched as they sent the drone up into the air.\u2019<\/p>\n

Shop worker Paddy Pain, 22, said a friend serving a sentence at the jail had been offered money by fellow inmates to accept a delivery of banned substances.<\/p>\n

And Sonya Minney, 55, chief officer of the Bedford Guild House charity, which backs on to the prison, said: \u2018Staff have recently covered up the cell windows that face outwards to prevent stuff being thrown in.<\/p>\n

\u2018We often hear the police helicopter and sometimes they patrol the perimeter with sniffer dogs but we\u2019ve never seen a drone.\u2019 Drones have been widely used in the United States and Canada to fly drugs into penal institutions and in October a miniature helicopter packed with pills crashed into a net guarding the exercise yard of a jail in Ireland.<\/p>\n

Phantom Vision devices are small enough to fit into the corner of a suitcase and manufacturer DJI claims they can fly for up to 50 minutes if fitted with an extra battery.<\/p>\n

There have been no arrests in connection with the Bedford incident yet. Police have appealed for information.<\/p>\n

A Prison Service spokesman said that the package had been \u2018quickly intercepted by vigilant staff\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A drone has been used in a daring night-time attempt to smuggle drugs and weapons into a high security jail. The plan was only thwarted when the machine became entangled in razor wire on a security wall and was then spotted by staff at Bedford Prison. It is the first known case of a remote-controlled … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Drone Packed with Drugs, Phones and Knife Flown into Jail”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedronefiles.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}