Last weekend, a neon-green quadcopter drone released a mysterious package into a New York state prison, which was promptly confiscated by corrections officers. According to the Associated Press, the bundle was massive — containing, among other goodies, two nearly eight-inch hunting knives.
That’s not all. The payload also held a Motorola phone, bandanas, electric hair trimmers — commonly fashioned into tattoo guns — a few sheets of paper soaked in an unknown substance, and at least 13 balloons stuffed with weed.
The drone was also recovered by officers. Going off pictures released by New York state investigators, the smugglers used an Xpece One fishing drone, a $2,299 quadcopter meant to hold up to seven pounds of bait.
According to New York corrections commissioner Daniel Martuscello, the state is aware of nearly 12 other drone dead-drops, something he calls an “evolving but imminent threat.”
Over the past few years, drones have become an incredibly popular choice among folks looking for an easy method to sneak contraband into prisons.
In December of last year, the South Carolina department of corrections intercepted a huge package crammed full of crab legs, steaks, weed, and a carton of cigarettes (they even included a tin of Old Bay for seasoning.)
It isn’t known how many prison drone drops there have been in the US, but it likely numbers in the thousands. In South Carolina, for example, there were at least 250 drone drops in 2024, which rose slightly to 254 the following year. And those are just the ones authorities know about in one state, meaning the actual number is likely much higher.
“It could be well over 300, 350, those that we don’t see in the middle of the night that never make it in,” South Carolina DOC director Joel Anderson told corrections officer publication Corrections1. “We find drones crashed in the woods outside of the penitentiary. We find drones crashed at the bases of the fences. We find drones crashed in the yard.”
More on drones: Police Drones in Haiti Have Killed More Than 1,000 People
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