The governor of Perth Prison says he is winning the war on criminals attempting to smuggle drugs into the building using drones.
Fraser Munro, 53, who returned to take over the Edinburgh Road prison in April, said measures are in place to stop such incidents, including security staff using extensive CCTV cameras that surround the whole prison establishment and nearby residents contacting staff if they spot something suspicious.
The prison has seen several brazen attempts to fly drones into the grounds, including two incidents in September. These were foiled by alert prison staff contacting the police after spotting the hi-tech devices in the sky near the building.
The most alarming incident happened in April 2016 when a package intended for Perth Prison was found in a neighbouring garden. It contained two bags of heroin, a bag of cannabis, mobile phones, Sim cards, USB cables, superglue and a screwdriver.
Mr Munro said: “We take a dim view of these types of incidents. We rely heavily on the police and the courts to take action whenever we catch those responsible.
“Individuals who are intent on trying to bring illicit substances into the prison will use whatever means are available and drones happen to be the new technology available. We work very closely with the police and other partners to prevent or capture these drones.”
Mr Munro outlined the measures taken to prevent attempts to breach the prison’s security by flying drones into its grounds.
“You’d expect us to be pretty vigilant in a prison and we are – it is covered in CCTV cameras,” he added.
“We have staff that monitor the cameras and it is quite difficult to bring something in here undetected. In addition, the staff at Perth Prison are incredibly vigilant.
“That’s not to say it can’t happen but we have a lot of measures in place to deal with this, including having a very good relationship with the police and other agencies regarding intelligence being passed.”
He added that staff also use Prison Watch to detect such incidents. This involves neighbouring residents notifying the prison if they see any suspicious activity in its vicinity.
Mr Munro was previously governor at Perth Prison from 2014 to 2015.
