Drone i drug smugling - UAS Vision

Drone with Drugs Crashes in Arizona Prison Yard

An attempt to deliver a load of drugs and cell phones to inmates at an Arizona prison failed when the drone carrying the contraband crashed in a yard accessible only to corrections officers.

The Arizona Department of Corrections said Thursday it is still trying to determine who was behind the botched delivery Sept. 24.

It was the first known incident involving a drone at an Arizona state prison, according to corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder.

A homemade aerial drone flew over Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye in the early morning and crashed in a security zone inaccessible to inmates.

Wilder said correctional officers at the facility discovered the drone after it crashed and confiscated the contraband, which had been tied up in an orange sweatshirt. Inside were two cell phones and several freezer bags filled with marijuana, images show.

ADC investigators have sent items to the state crime lab for fingerprint and DNA analysis, but they have not been able to locate the origin of the drone, Wilder said.

Wilder said corrections officials are evaluating existing technology to potentially combat drones, but “there is no better existing weapon against the importation of illegal contraband in correctional facilities than heightened staff awareness and vigilance.”

“Our Correctional Officers do an excellent job at that already, which may explain why bad guys are turning to new methods such as drones to try to get illegal contraband inside prisons,” he added.