Also found inside the vehicle was a Beretta handgun with 13 rounds of ammunition.
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The suspects, who were caught outside the state prison complex near Cumberland on Saturday evening, had a drone and various contraband items – including synthetic marijuana and pornographic DVDs – in the vehicle they were in.
“The vehicle and its occupants had been under surveillance, thanks to a great deal of intelligence information that had been gathered by the Western Correctional Institution, and to the Public Safety intelligence and investigative detectives”, said Stephen T. Moyer, Secretary for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Contraband that two men were trying to get into a Maryland prison using a drone, officials said.
The two men were arrested outside the state prison in Crespatown, Md., after police saw their vehicle.
Authorities are also investigating an an inmate they believe was harboring contraband. Russell was being held at the Allegany County jail Monday with bail set at $100,000.
Moyer said the investigation began several weeks ago, enabling authorities to arrest the men near the Western Correctional Institution, a almost 1,700-bed institution in the Appalachian Mountains about 120 miles west of Baltimore. Investigators found contraband in the inmate’s cell and were preparing to charge him, he said. That inmate’s name has not been released. According to The Washington Post, Moyer added that equipping prisons with drone detection infrastructure would cost up to $400,000 per facility.
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The drone could carry about six to eight ounces of material, officials said.
