Drone caught trying to drop drugs into Woodford jail

Prison authorities have stopped a drone carrying drugs – which officers say was worth hundreds of thousands – from getting into one of the state’s biggest jails.

Prison authorities have stopped a drone carrying drugs – which officers say was worth hundreds of thousands – from getting into one of the state’s biggest jails.

The drone trying to drop off the drugs into Woodford jail was disabled and seized by prison authorities late last month.

Prison officers said people were seen acting suspiciously outside the jail and fled in a Mercedes as staff came to confront people in the vehicle.

An officer told The Courier-Mail that subutex strips, which is the drug buprenorphine used for opioid addiction, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in jail was seized. The officer said cocaine was also found.

It’s the second drone to be stopped at the jail in months a drone carrying a package was stopped in early April.

Subutex strips can into pieces can sell for hundreds of dollars in jails.

A drone attempted to drop drugs into a major Queensland prison has been intercepted by police.

Police are now investigating the incident and say the drone was carrying the buprenorphine, “white powder” and tablets.

Officers have appealed for the public to help in the investigation.

“A vehicle of interest, being a white Mercedes sedan, was seen near the Woodford Correctional Centre and observed driving dangerously through the Woodford township, eastbound along the Archer / D’Aguilar Highway, at approximately 2.20pm on Friday 29 July,” a police spokeswoman said.

“Investigations are ongoing by the Corrective Services Investigation Unit, with detectives calling on anyone with information or anyone with relevant dashcam or CCTV footage of the white Mercedes sedan in the area to come forward.”

Prison officers have called for anti-drone netting to be put around certain sections of the jail to stop drugs or other items being dropped off.

When asked if Queensland Corrective Services would consider the measure a spokeswoman said: “QCS does not discuss the capabilities of its technology in-depth, in the interests of the safety and security of its correctional centres.”

In 2018 QCS announced it was trialling equipment to detect drones, intercepting communications through radio waves to identify its source.

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