Drone delivery of steak, crab legs, marijuana and other contraband intercepted by US prison guards
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A drone carrying food items, cigarettes and marijuana was intercepted at a maximum security prison in South Carolina.
PHOTO: S.C. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/X
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What appeared like a planned feast behind bars was foiled after guards at a maximum-security US prison intercepted steak, crab legs and other contraband items in the early hours of Dec 8.
In a post on X, the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) said a drone dropped off the ingredients for an “early holiday Old Bay crab boil and steak dinner”, along with cigarettes and marijuana, at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina. Old Bay is a popular US brand of seasoning blend.
South Carolina media outlet News19 reported on Dec 8 that an SCDC spokesperson said that law enforcement officers later recovered the remote-controlled aircraft, although no arrests have been made.
The spokesperson also said that SCDC faces nightly attempts by drone operators trying to smuggle items to inmates.
Prisons in other parts of the world have also had to grapple with similar aerial smuggling attempts.
On Nov 21, Taiwan News reported that two volleyballs filled with items including whiskey and betel nut had been dropped by a drone into a prison in Hualien.
In June, a package containing drugs like methamphetamine and marijuana, as well as nicotine patches and tobacco, was discovered on the perimeter of Dorchester Penitentiary in Canada after being dropped by a drone. The contraband items were valued at C$534,100 (S$500,200).
And in April, another prison in the US nabbed two men suspected of being involved in a scheme making drone drops at Fulton County Jail. In addition to drugs like marijuana and oxycodone, the packages delivered included mobile phones and chargers, and even burgers from a popular fast-food chain.
