Poggioreale: A €10 drone carrying a kilo of drugs and 15 smartphones was seized.

A large drone, estimated to be worth approximately €10, was neutralized by the prison police's defense systems at Naples' Poggioreale prison. The aircraft was carrying a total of one kilogram of drugs, including hashish, cocaine, and marijuana, a precision scale, and 15 smartphones, complete with cables and power supplies.

The operation was announced by the USPP, the prison police union, which expressed its appreciation for the officers' intervention. The drone was reportedly manufactured in Europe and equipped with advanced technological features, capable of carrying a substantial payload.

The intervention prevented drugs and telephones from reaching the inmates, blocking a new attempt to bypass the institute's controls from above.

The USPP: "Increasingly sophisticated attempts"

For USPP president Giuseppe Moretti and regional secretary Ciro Auricchio, the episode confirms the evolution of the means used to introduce illicit material into prisons.
"Attempts to circumvent control systems within prisons are increasingly sophisticated," the two union representatives state. The use of a large and technologically advanced drone, they emphasize, "cannot be underestimated."

Moretti and Auricchio believe that organized crime is behind the phenomenon. The union attributes this assessment to the ability to use expensive and sophisticated equipment to transport drugs and devices intended for inmates.

The September precedents

This latest intervention follows two other incidents documented in recent weeks. On September 9th, prison police intercepted and shot down a drone headed to Poggioreale carrying a latest-generation iPhone and 150 grams of hashish. According to initial investigative findings reported at the time, the material was intended to fuel the illicit trade in phones and narcotics within the prison.

On September 19, the Carabinieri arrested three people for attempting to smuggle drugs into the institute via drone. A forty-year-old from Boscoreale was caught with the remote control still in his hands; the operation seized 15,41 grams of cocaine, 5,90 grams of crack, four cell phones, and a pre-arranged drone equipped with duct tape and fishing line. The other two arrested were aged 18 and 20.

Two different interventions—one cargo intercepted in flight and one attempt stopped before takeoff—document the continuity of illicit supplies attempted from outside.

"Poggioreale is short 200 officers"

The USPP describes the fight against these renditions as a "hi-tech war" and calls for strengthening the tools available to the prison police: advanced technologies, anti-drone systems, specific training and, above all, more staff.

According to the union, Poggioreale's workforce is understaffed by 200. "The staff performs an incredibly important job every day," Moretti and Auricchio say, but the increasing complexity of attempts to smuggle illicit materials requires concrete support for officers.
"Only with great sacrifice can order and internal security be maintained in prisons," they conclude.