Federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday that a network of current and former inmates in Georgia used drones to smuggle drugs and other contraband into state prisons, leading to charges against nearly two dozen individuals, The New York Times reports. Twenty-three people were charged in two separate indictments that were unsealed Wednesday. All except six of those charged were former or current inmates of the state’s prison system. Twenty-two people named in the indictments are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute marijuana and methamphetamine, which carries a statutory penalty of 10 years to life in prison, prosecutors said. The 23rd person was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking crime, prosecutors said.
Both indictments were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Beginning as early as 2019, prosecutors said, inmates used contraband cellphones to communicate with the outside and to coordinate the sale of drugs, cellphones and other contraband that were to be airdropped via a drone onto a prison yard. Such activities carried on for about five years, until last month, prosecutors said. The correspondence between the prisoners and their associates resulted in several charges of unlawful use of communication devices, the unsealed indictments show. Text message chains and photographs included in the indictments provide a window into how the operations worked. A text sent by an inmate in January 2023 revealed plans for contraband to be dropped in the yard. The inmate provided detailed instructions and a screenshot of the drop spot on Google Maps. Other exchanges show careful instructions by inmates on what quantities of contraband to send and how to seal packages. Ten drones and 21 firearms were seized in the investigation, officials said.
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