France busts a family drone ring running drugs into several prisons

He isn’t old enough to obtain a driver’s license, but can legally pilot a drone – which he did (after getting a ride to takeoff destinations) to most illegally fly repeated delivery missions of drugs and other banned items into prisons in southwest France.

Law enforcement authorities in Bordeaux are holding three individuals accused of using drones to drop drugs, iPhones, booze, and other contraband into the local Gradignan prison, as well as a couple other penitentiaries in the region. The alleged pilot in the scheme is a 17-year old who relied on two adult women partners to drive him to spots selected for takeoff and remote navigation (“Sorry, but ya gotta be 18 to drive in France, squirt”). 

As a touching detail, the illegal aerial delivery operation turned out to be something of a family affair as well. One of the two inmates in Gradignan prison for whom drugs and other gear were destined is the accused drone operator’s older brother, and also the boyfriend of one of the two female accomplices. 

Their parents are all presumably very proud.

As proof the rehabilitation objectives of the correctional system aren’t working as hoped in the wise-up department, both inmates involved in the plot were already serving time for previous narcotics trafficking beefs. They also continued ordering up regular drone flights after one UAV and its drugs-and-phones payload had already been discovered on prison grounds.

Following that breakthrough in searching for the source of the sudden influx of contraband guards had been coming across inside the pen, French police began using drone detection tech to monitor flights around the facility, as well as in the two other jails where similar deliveries were being made. 

That eventually allowed cops to prepare the raid last week that reportedly turned up three UAVs, 834 grams of cannabis, 1.3 kilos of ecstasy, 100 grams of cocaine, a bottle of vodka ready for airlift, and €7,500 in cash ($8,210).

The familial ring running drugs and other loot to the Bordeaux area prison serves as an example of the rising problem of drone delivery of contraband in France – which itself is part of a widespread and growing global scourge. In their case against the quintet of defendants, authorities say they have evidence of 20 flights having been made by the group between August and September alone. 

All five suspects risk serious jail time for their roles in the scheme. The youngest member, however, may find a way of using it to more productive (and legal) ends.

Once he gets out of juvenile detention, he may flash his record as proof of his piloting experience when applying for what by then will be the considerably enlarged number of openings in France’s growing drone services sector.