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Drones Smuggle Dangerous Items Into Prisons

Drones Smuggle Dangerous Items Into Prisons

Industry News October 22, 2017

Some time ago we had an article about drone smuggling drugs over borders. Now, that story extends onto another criminal activity. This time around, drones are delivering various items (including, yet again, all sorts of drugs) to prisons. If we are to be more precise with our measurements, a total of 41 drones has been caught nearby prisons. The numbers are rather concerning as the rates are rapidly increasing at all fronts.

Drones smuggling in prisons

This story is driven by a recent attempt of a drone to smuggle goods in an exercise yard at Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. Needless to say, the rumor has spread like a virus throughout the facility, alarming everything and everyone. This led to further research which discovered a rapidly growing trend of such criminal activities.

41 drones have been caught so far

As I already stated above, 41 drones have been caught so far. Starting from July 2013 and all the way up to December 2016, Correctional Service Canada reported. This could seem like a small number to you… but if we managed to catch 41 drones, imagine how many of them went undetected. How many drugs, weapons and other trivial goods were brought into these facilities. Once you count that into your equation, you will realize that these numbers aren’t to be taken for granted.

Not just in Canada…

Apart from these reports that originate from Canada, believe it or not, there are similar reports from numerous other countries. These include UK and USA, both of which show a trend of rapid growth. And it’s not surprising, the price being the top culprit. Most of you probably know that a drone can be purchased for as low as $15. Of course, these are not drones that are used for these operations. These go way beyond couple hundred bucks but are still affordable nevertheless.

How can this be stopped?

hexacopter smuggling prisonThere are several ways that prison facilities can put an end to these smuggling attempts. But unfortunately, there are usually not enough resources (a lot of money is on the line) so their defenses cannot be well-versed. Among best solutions is clearly a full vision of facility’s surrounding area, but such sophisticated systems tend to cost a lot of money. Second would be the purchase of DroneShields. These are basically drone guns, jammers which work on a wide range of frequencies. They’re also rather expensive but not nearly as an entire vision system. Additionally, these guns can only jam drones that were previously detected, they cannot do the detection work too.

All things considered, it seems as though the future is inevitable. Devices from science fiction movies are becoming a reality right in front of our eyes. And, even though I’ll always be pro-technology, I have to admit these sorts of drone-based operations really make me wonder – how long until we see drone invasions by terrorists? As a matter of fact, we’re actually preparing an article about that exact topic… and it is going to be a good one.

What I am basically trying to say here is that technology, no matter how helpful it might be, can backfire if not addressed properly… and as far as drones are concerned, we might be up for more drama.

Anthony Turner
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