PARIS: A drone silently delivers presents to prisoners inside a prison in southern France while hovering over it in the middle of night. However, guards capture three more parcels after one gets caught in the railing outside a cell window.
Prisoners all throughout France have been ordering things online for drones to carry them illegally, often right outside their window, including phones, narcotics, and their favorite fast food.
Authorities closed down “Drone2France,” a company that was supplying over a dozen prisons in France and Belgium, as a result of a disastrous delivery that occurred in southern France in the beginning of 2023.
Between late 2022 and December 2023, prisoners used the social media platform Snapchat to place orders. They paid an average of 450 euros ($490) for each delivery, with a maximum weight limit of 350 grams.
The drone’s claws frequently dropped potato-sack-filled packages, and the service provider demanded a minimum order of four bundles per delivery.
Another arrangement, known as “Air Colis” (also known as “Air parcel”), was discovered in western France in September and involved lowering contraband that was sock-stuffed onto fishing line.
Additionally, investigators in a different event in southern France discovered packages including 700 grams of cannabis and almost 100 grams of cocaine.
Prison guards claim that hundreds of these deliveries are made annually.
According to Dominique Gombert of the prison guard union FO Justice, “there isn’t a day when there isn’t a drone flying over, whether on the mainland or in overseas territories.”
400 of the more than 1,000 drones that were seen flying over prisons last year were “blocked,” according to a person familiar with the situation.
Kebabs and cannabis
Union representatives gave information on the drone deliveries’ operational procedures, but the prisons authority did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
According to Wilfried Fonck, secretary-general of Ufap-Unsa Justice, another prison guard union, the deliveries are getting more accurate.
They nearly come to a window, according to Fonck.
He clarified that in addition to kebabs, spicy sausages, ceramic knives, and religious books, the majority of orders are for cannabis and cell phones.
Delivery firms can pick up the goods from an inmate’s friend or relative and advertise straight on social media.
Since the majority of drones that are offered online are smaller models, packages cannot be very hefty.
Companion drone operators are normally positioned two to five kilometers (1.2 to three miles) away from the penitentiary, where the drone operator is usually found.
The prisoner shines a light out of their window to guide the drone, which frequently flies with all of its lights off.
Then, all the prisoner has to do to get the items is extend their arm through the bars.
At night, there are fewer guards, which reduces the likelihood of being apprehended.
Fonck stated, “At most, you can perform surprise searches the following morning.”
But that was usually made more difficult by the fact that the more covert prisoners were frequently the ones hiding the contraband.
