Drones flying into jails in England and Wales are national security threat, says prisons watchdog

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, has called for urgent action from Whitehall. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Drones have become a “threat to national security”, the prisons watchdog has said, after a surge in the amount of weapons and drugs flown into high-security jails.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, called for urgent action from Whitehall and the police after inquiries found that terrorism suspects and criminal gangs could escape or attack guards because safety had been “seriously compromised”.