Kids' toy helicopters which sell for €15 are being used to smuggle drugs into prison yards.
Miniature aircraft are being used by associates to fly contraband over perimeter walls at prisons.
Staff at Wheatfield Prison in Dublin removed one of the mini choppers from netting. A source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “This is a new tactic and the last thing expected.
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“These are cheap and far less expensive than using drones which can cost hundreds of euros each.
“They don’t care if they get caught in the netting as they cost nothing to buy.
“Drones were used a lot before the pandemic to drop drugs, and in some cases even takeaway food, over the wall. But that stopped after they kept getting intercepted by prison staff.”
Other methods used include throwing flaming tennis balls and flaming socks stuffed with drugs over the boundary.
Anti-drone technology installed at six jails in 2021 yielded the highest ever seizure of drugs and mobile phones for the Irish Prison Service.
When asked about the toy helicopters a spokesman for the IPS said: “The Irish Prison Service does not comment on matters such as methodologies used to smuggle contraband into prisons for operational and security reasons.”
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