How drone was used to drop tobacco products, lighters inside jail at night

KAPURTHALA: In a first-of-its-kind incident, a drone was allegedly used to drop contraband, including tobacco products and five lighters, inside Central Jail Kapurthala during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

According to an FIR lodged by deputy jail superintendent Dheeraj Kumar, he was patrolling the jail premises around 11.30 pm when a drone was spotted hovering over the prison complex.

He said that he, along with other jail staff, searched for the drone but could not trace it during the night.



On Thursday morning, the staff conducted another search and recovered the items around 8 am near Tower Number 9 in the area of Barrack Number 3.

He said a wrapped packet was found tied to the drone. It contained two packets of tobacco, two packets of cigarettes, a packet of filter cigarettes, a pack of rolling paper, and five lighters.

When contacted, Kapurthala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Toora said said the drone did not have a mechanism to release the packet mid-air, and the items had been tied to it. He added that the matter was under investigation.