Prison officials in Quebec say they have to beef up air defenses around their facilities after a remotely piloted aircraft dropped a package that likely contained drugs into the Hull Prison near Ottawa, Ontario. “We have to adjust,” Stephane Lemaire, president of the union representing prison guards, told the Ottawa Citizen. If they are able to deliver drugs then they can deliver other small objects – small cellphones, weapons. The package was never recovered and neither was the aircraft. Lemaire said the rapidly advancing technology and the dropping prices for the aircraft make the delivery method ever more enticing, especially for drug drops. If you can deliver a couple of thousand dollars worth of drugs, it pays for itself.
The possible solutions include putting nets over the prisons or giving guards the authority to shoot the drones down, a difficult proposition since many prisons are in built-up areas. There have been other incidents and in one case the aircraft was recovered. However, the cardboard box, likely full of drugs, that it dropped into the prison yard was never found.
