JAKARTA: (Bernama) Indonesian prison officials have foiled a brazen attempt to smuggle methamphetamine into a Bandung facility using a drone.
The incident occurred in broad daylight on Sunday (June 8) at the Class IIA Narcotics Prison in Bandung, West Java, prison authorities said in a statement.
Prison’s security unit head Muhammad Nurzaman said guards on duty spotted a drone flying over the inmate housing block before it dropped a package inside the facility.
"Officers quickly secured the package and prevented an inmate, believed to be linked to the smuggling attempt, from retrieving it,” he added.
A preliminary examination revealed two packets of methamphetamine weighing a total of 25 grammes.
The suspected inmate and the seized drugs were handed over to narcotics police in Bandung for further investigation.
"This incident shows that smuggling methods are no longer conventional. They now involve technology such as drones,” Muhammad said.
The attempt is part of a growing trend in Indonesia, where criminal networks are increasingly turning to drones to bypass tight prison security.
Similar incidents were reported at Sragen Prison in 2023 and at Nusa Kambangan, the country’s highest-security facility, as early as 2019, both located in Central Java. - Bernama
