Bizarre attempt to smuggle drugs into top security prison... using a toy helicopter



Man uses toy helicopter to fly drugs over wall of Australian prison

The 28-year-old caught trying to get drugs and phone to inmate friend



Man and woman found in car operating drone with remote control device

Believed to be first attempt in Australia using drone to smuggle drugs

Alleged smuggler may have copied trend in US and Canadian jails

A man has used a a four-engined helicopter drone in an attempt to fly drugs and a mobile phone into a maximum-security prison in Melbourne, police allege.

It is believed to be the first time an unmanned small aircraft has been used in an attempt to smuggle drugs into an Australian jail.

In what is a hi-tech version of throwing drugs over prison walls, drones have been used to smuggle contraband into US and Canadian prisons, as the devices have become relatively cheap on the market.

A man has used a four-engined helicopter drone, similar to the device pictured (above) to attempt to fly a package with drugs and a mobile phone over the wall of a prison in western Melbourne Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Batty said police and and its helicopter unit, Air Wing, were called to the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Ravenhall, in western Melbourne, about 4.30pm yesterday. Corrections staff are believed to have seen or heard the drone hovering over the facility during the last visits session at the prison, which houses 700 male inmates.

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Next The app controlled smart security drone with a STUN GUN... Share this article Share A 28-year-old man was allegedly operating the drone from a vehicle he was parked in with a woman near the facility. He was trying to deliver the drugs and the phone over one of the jail's perimeter walls to an inmate. Police arrested and charged the man, after which Corrections Victoria prison officers reportedly searched the prison and interviewed an inmate.

On Sunday afternoon during the last visits session for the 700 maximum security male inmates at the Metropolitan Remand Centre (above) in the outer western suburb of Ravenwell, prison officers were alerted to a helicopter drone buzzing in the air nearby and police were called in to arrest a man who was sitting in a vehicle on the street allegedly operating the device

Victorian Police have yet to say what charges the man has been bailed to face in court.

Small remotely piloted aircraft cost as little as $300, are readily available from television and computer retailers and can easily be operated using a smart phone.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) told the MailOnline currently 70 commercial operators were licensed to use drones, but permission was not needed to operate a craft for recreational use.

'The restrictions are you keep them at least 30 metres away from property or people and that they fly under a maximum height of 400 feet (120m) so as to not interfere with aircraft,' CASA spokesman, Peter Gibson said.