'Criminal mastermind' tries to smuggle roofies into prison with drone; gets arrested instead
Posted on August 1, 2014 by Max Teodorescu
Lack of piloting capabilities caused it to crash
As drones become increasingly affordable, and thus accessible, it should come as no surprise that people will use them to smuggle contraband into prisons; it's a more discrete form of smuggling than the alternative. The latest attempt involved a South Carolina maximum security prison and a quadcopter carrying a payload of marijuana and tobacco. Suffice to say, it did not end well for the would-be smuggler, who wound up crashing the quadcopter outside the walls of the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stephanie Givens is convinced that this was the first time a remote controlled aircraft was used in an attempt to breach prison walls in South Carolina, but she confides that the increasing number of incidents worldwide are a testament to the fact that criminals are getting smarter, forcing authorities to figure out new ways to fight back. Before the proliferation of quadcopters, accomplices would toss contraband over prison walls, hoping the inmate could reach the items before discovered by correctional officers. With the help of a quadcopter, the accomplice could drop off the contraband at a precise location that's more accessible to the inmate.
The crashed quadcopter from last week's incident was eventually traced back to a man named Brenton Lee Doyle, who was arrested and charged for allegedly introducing contraband into a state prison and for possessing flunitrazopam as well as "roofies." The suspect claims to have never seen a drone in his life and that no drone was ever mentioned during the time of his arrest. Skeptical police are seeking a second suspect.
The South Carolina incident is but a repeat of what occurred earlier this year when an Australian "criminal mastermind" was arrested after correction officers spotted his aerial vehicle hovering outside the vicinity of a Melbourne-based prison. This foolish bloke was charged with possessing a drug of dependence and attempting to commit an indictable offense.
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