The anti-drone technology can take control of drones remotely. Photo / NZME
The anti-drone technology can take control of drones remotely. Photo / NZME
Spain is testing the use of anti-drone systems in prisons to prevent inmates flying in drugs and other contraband.
The country’s Interior Ministry has overseen a pilot programme at Penitentiary Málaga in Alhaurin de la Torre using technology provided by D-Fend Solutions, an Israeli company, that can take control ofdrones remotely.
Official figures from Spain’s government recorded 33 drone-related incidents in the first half of this year, compared with 14 in the whole of 2021.
But guards at the prison in Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the North African coast, told The Objective, an online Spanish news site, that they see at least 30 drones a day in the area.
Ceuta prison, and the jails in Melilla, Spain’s other North African territory, and Cádiz, in Andalusia, will be the next facilities to host the technology amid fears that inmates, many of whom are connected to drug trafficking in the Strait of Gibraltar, are using drones to create a parallel economy while behind bars.
According to prison sources quoted by The Objective, the drone handlers tend to be ex-convicts working at night and using their knowledge of jail facilities to deliver goods to a specific cell window.
In Catalonia, local authorities are also testing an anti-drone system at two of the region’s prisons, recently detecting one with a cargo containing a mobile phone, a charger and a consignment of drugs.
Catalonia’s regional interior ministry has developed its own anti-drone detection system, called Kuppel.
It has already been deployed to protect the skies over strategic installations, such as Barcelona airport, from potential security threats from drones.
