Drone crew caught attempting to deliver smokes to prison inmates

[twomp]

The Customs and Border Protection agency flies drones, in part, to catch smugglers bringing contraband into the US, so it was just a matter of time before smugglers tried using drones themselves. Unfortunately for smugglers in Georgia, their drone got spotted and they landed in jail instead.

Four people were arrested in Calhoun, Georgia this week for using a six-rotor helicopter drone to deliver tobacco to a state prison. Operating from nearby woods, the group used binoculars to navigate the drone over the prison's fences.

The alleged perpetrators—Marc Lee Circle, Angel Omega Thomas, Aaron Clint Foster, and Donovan Aaron Johnson—were found by sheriff's deputies about an hour after a lieutenant at the Calhoun State Prison spotted the helicopter and ordered a search. WALB News reports that the four suspects were found with the helicopter and about two pounds of tobacco rolled into a package for delivery, along with cell phones that may have been used to contact prisoners to direct them to pick up the contraband.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/drone-crew-caught-attempting-to-deliver-smokes-to-prison-inmates/

[Dr.3D]

Small time stuff... When I was a kid, I was always thinking about people running drugs across the border using RC aircraft or kites.

[dannno]

Ya that would really suck if that tobacco made it into that prison.

[angelatc]

Meh - all this fancy tech stuff when a simple catapult would have done the trick.

[CPUd]

If they banned tobacco in the facility, that would be pretty valuable. Maybe a couple thousand.