Gang That Utilized Drones For Prison Drops Jailed
Frankie McCamleyHendon Magistrates' Court
Harry LowLondon
A gang that used drones to smuggle drugs, weapons and mobile phones into jails has actually been imprisoned.
An approximated 75% of drone drops across London's prisons were due to the seven males who targeted jails consisting of Wormwood Scrubs, Brixton, Pentonville and Wandsworth.
Shafaghatullah Mohseni, 29, Hashim Al-Hussaini, 28, Mohammed Hamoud, 22, Faiz Salah, 29, Zahar Essaghi, 51, Mustafa Ibrahim, 30, and Emanuel Fisniku, 25, were sentenced at Harrow Crown Court.
Det Insp John Cowell said: "This extremely organised gang thought they were outsmarting the cops and jail authorities. What they didn't understand is they underwent sustained specialist monitoring by Met officers."
All 7 men confessed their roles in a "severe, organised, and respected enterprise" to provide Class B and C drugs, and communicating list A and B posts into prisons. The hearing was held at Hendon Magistrates' Court, where some Harrow Crown Court cases are being heard.
The guys would travel by car to the jails, often in the early hours of the early morning, and fly bundles filled with contraband through cell windows.
CCTV video shows a few of the gang connecting fishing wire to a drone which was connected to a plan and melted using a lighter to secure it. This was then flown to the detainees in their cells.
The gang likewise targeted jails in Norwich, Leicester, Onley in Northamptonshire and Bedford.
At the centre of the conspiracy was Mohseni, an Afghan national who was granted leave to remain as a child in the UK in 2003.
He was sentenced to five years and three months and will serve a minimum of 40% of that.
He was described in court as having the leading function behind nearly every drop, organising flights, running the drones, co-ordinating chauffeurs and lookouts, dealing with more than ₤ 30,000, and communicating directly with prisoners using illicit cellphones inside the prisons.
His defence barrister argued the 29-year-old had actually developed up debts of about ₤ 30,000 from a gaming addiction and feared for his safety.
The court heard that a person drone crashed and was taken by the authorities at HMP Wandsworth.
It contained marijuana, pills of Pregabalin understood as "new Valium", and tablets of Alprazolam commonly offered under the trademark name Xanax.
Another plan was intercepted inside Wandsworth Prison, after authorities alerted staff of a drone flight to a particular cell. The bundle included marijuana, cigarettes and 5 iPhones.
Financial investigations showed money being transferred from associates of serving prisoners to fund the operation.
In 2015, the chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor alerted of the increased risk drones would position for smuggling weapons and drugs into jails.