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Oct 23

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A gloved hand holds a plastic crow wrapped in black tape at night, with a gray quadcopter lying on wet leaves beside it.

Contraband · Louisiana

Drone Meth Drop in a Fake Crow Earns Texas Woman 70 Months in Prison

A Texas woman got 70 months in a drone plot that sent a crow-shaped meth package to USP Pollock. A Florida man found at a nearby Airbnb got 10 years.

Haye KestelooOct 234 min read

Counter-Drone

29 Governors Ask DOJ for a Prison Drone Course Its Rule Already Offers

29 governors want more FBI counter-drone seats, a prison course and Guard training. The federal rule already offers the prison course and allows new sites.

Haye KestelooOct 19

Large quadcopter drone carrying a man suspended in midair

Counter-Drone

Korean Drug Lord's Drone Jailbreak Undone by a Viral Test Flight

Park Wang-yeol planned to fly out of a Philippine prison hanging from a 165-pound-capacity drone. A viral rehearsal clip killed the plot.

Haye KestelooSep 16

Louisiana

Prison Drone Flew $31,000 of Meth Back to Its Launch Site

A Grant Parish deputy found the drone on the ground with the meth still strapped to it. A dying battery had flown it home, and two Texas men are in jail.

Haye KestelooSep 14

FAA

Drone Smuggling Ring Hit 10 Prisons, DOJ Charges

A federal grand jury in Georgia indicted twelve people for running drones over the walls of ten federal prisons in eight states, dropping drugs, cell phones, and saw blades at least 38 times. Prosecutors call it the largest federal case to date built around coordinated drone smuggling into prisons. The 17-count indictment, unsealed June 24…

Rafael SuárezJun 25

DJI

South Carolina Moves to Criminalize Prison Drone Drops

South Carolina lawmakers are closing a gap that’s been frustrating law enforcement for years. A bill dubbed the South Carolina Drone Regulation and Public Safety Act cleared a Senate committee unanimously this week, following a unanimous House vote last month, as the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported. If it becomes law, the state will finally…

Rafael SuárezMay 12

Contraband is entering Georgia prisons from Drones— again

DJI

Flock’s Jail Drone Wants to Expand to 19 County-Wide

NPR caught up with the Fulton County Jail drone story this week, three weeks after we covered the original Flock Safety deployment in detail. The national coverage matters because it surfaces two details that weren’t in the March announcement: Sheriff Patrick Labat’s plan to expand from one rooftop drone to 19 drones positioned across Fulton…

Rafael SuárezApr 17

DJI

A Flock Drone Now Guards Georgia’s Most Notorious Jail

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office launched the system on March 19 in partnership with Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based public safety

Rafael SuárezMar 24

Contraband

The drone industry moves fast. Stay ahead of it.