US police have foiled an attempt to smuggle pornographic material and drugs into a Maryland prison using a drone. At least two people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The law enforcement authorities found the two men along with a four-rotor mini-helicopter in a Ford pickup truck outside the maximum security prison complex near Cumberland. Authorities also seized six neatly-packed items including synthetic marijuana, 11 pornographic DVDs and tobacco, which the suspects intended to deliver inside the prison.
You cant make this stuff up, said Stephen T Moyer, secretary of the Maryland Department Public Safety and Corrections Services. The two men have been identified as Thaddeus Shortz, 25, and Keith Brian Russell, 30.
The duo has been charged with illegal possession of drugs and intent to distribute them. This is the first known plot involving a new type of crime. One of the suspects was being held on $100,000 bond while the other was under detention without bail. An inmate was also suspected of involvement in the alleged plot.
The vehicle and its occupants had been under surveillance, thanks to a great deal of intelligence information that had been gathered by the Western Correctional Institution, and to the Public Safety intelligence and investigative detectives, said Moyer. Found in that vehicle, were a drone which we believe was about to be used to deliver contraband, into the Western Correctional Institute. Also in the vehicle were a handgun and various types of contraband.
Use of such rogue drones has become a major problem for the law enforcement agencies as the latest technologies have made them harder to detect. Similar instances involving drones flying too close to aircraft and near sensitive areas such as the White House have raised serious concerns.
