Drones Supplying Inmates with Drugs and Cellphones

Drones to supply inmates with drugs and cellphones. The latest discovery by the penitentiary police department of the Carinola prison, with the support of the Carabinieri military police, brings back the alarm raised months ago by the Sappe (Autonomous Union of Penitentiary Police) about the criminal use of technology. The complaint is from Tiziana Guacci and Ettore Natale, respectively regional secretary for Campania and local secretary of Carinola for the Sappe: “Last night, from the control room of the prison, they saw a drone flying over the detention facility: supported by the Carabinieri, the Penitentiary Police officers stopped two men who were operating the drone while a third person, a woman waiting in a car, managed to escape.” In the package that the drone was carrying there were 1.8 kg of hashish, several quantities of cocaine, 10 microphones, 10 smartphones, a switchblade knife, and a tattoo machine. The general secretary of the Sappe, Donato Capece, points out how this latest event “confirms all the investigative hypotheses about the now well-known phenomenon of illicit trafficking via drones, a phenomenon also facilitated by the freedom of movement of the inmates following the open custody regime and the current operational difficulties, in which the Penitentiary Police operates, with minimal levels of security.”