Gangs 'recruiting skilled drone pilots to fly drugs into prisons'

Gangs are headhunting highly skilled drone pilots to deliver drugs, weapons and even condiments such as tomato ketchup to prison cell windows, police say.

- Josh Halliday

They say organised crime groups are recruiting specialist aircraft operators to fly the highly lucrative missions, sometimes transporting several kilos of contraband at a time.

Det Supt Andy Buckthorpe of Greater Manchester police said yesterday that it was a "constant battle" for authorities to keep up with the smuggling methods deployed by criminal gangs and their associates behind bars.

"Drone technology is getting bigger and better so the payloads are getting bigger. Drones now are able to fly straight to the window of the cell," he said. "It's a constant battle for us in law enforcement to keep up with technology and how the criminals are embracing it."

Greater Manchester police yesterday stepped up a region-wide crackdown on organised crime groups seeking to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons into prisons, warning that they were fuelling a rise in violence among inmates.