Later in the day, they were alerted to another drone being flown towards the prison.
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Another, which was carrying a package full of drugs and phones, was captured in mid-flight by police later that same day.
Over the weekend of August 12 to August 14, officers from the Caledonian Neighbourhoods Policing Team and the Metropolitan Police’s Special Constabulary carried out patrols in the area of the prison as part of Operation Airborne.
On 14 August, officers recovered a drone that flew over the prison and then crashed.
During the early hours of Saturday August 13, officers observed a man acting suspiciously close to the prison.
He ran off when he saw cops approaching, and dropped two bags containing Class B drugs (a category which includes amphetamines, barbiturates, codeine, and cannabis) and mobile phones-all of which are banned for prisoners.
In a separate incident, a suspected attempt to deliver drones into Wandsworth prison, in southwest London, was foiled last week when police intercepted the delivery.
Earlier this month a woman died in a vehicle crash after being chased by Met Police over suspicions that she and her boyfriend were flying a drone close to the grounds of Wandsworth Prison. No arrests have yet been made.
The Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom has said that more should be done to stop the drone problem.
While Amazon and the British government are looking into how to use drones to deliver parcels to customers, criminals are already exploiting the technology to send drugs to accomplices in prison.
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“We work closely with the Prison Service to gather intelligence in order to carry out proactive operations to arrest and prosecute such offenders”, Heatley said following the most recent round of drones. Indeed, The Independent reported that drone complaints to United Kingdom police soared 352% in a year.
