Man jailed for using drones to fly drugs and phones into UK prisons

A man who used drones to fly drugs, tobacco and phones into prisons has been jailed for nearly seven years.

Mahamood Diallo Blin, from southeast London, had been "prolifically using drones to fly prohibited items" into prisons based in London and the South East.

The 26-year-old, of Charlton Church Lane, Greenwich, was caught after a police investigation was launched in August 2023 into a crashed drone containing drugs and mobile phones found at Pentonville prison in north London.

Detectives linked the incident to a crashed drone at Coldingley prison in Surrey a year earlier, said the Metropolitan Police.

In a joint investigation by the Met Police and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), officers identified 37 incidents of drugs, tobacco and mobile phones being flown into prisons.

Blin was jailed for six years and 11 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court this week after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to convey class A drugs, mobile phones and tobacco.

A spokesperson for the South East Prison Intelligence Unit in the SEROCU said the investigation had ensured "someone who was prolifically using drones to fly prohibited items into the prison estate with complete disregard for the harm this caused" had been "stopped in his tracks".

Read more from Sky News:
Couple 'forced' to sit next to dead woman on flight
Second Post Office IT scandal expands

Detective Inspector Zara Baker, from the Met Police, said: "Smuggling illegal drugs into prison increases the risk of violence towards those working within prisons and to other inmates.

"It adds to the struggles faced by those affected by addiction and attempting to rehabilitate while serving their sentences.

"Blin's sentence reflects the seriousness of the offences he committed and I hope his sentence sends a clear message that offenders will be brought to justice."

(c) Sky News 2025: Man jailed for using drones to fly drugs and phones into UK prisons