People trying to fly in phones, weapons, and drugs via drones in England and Wales will face tough repercussions under new restrictions coming into force today (25 January).

The new law makes it an automatic offence to fly drones within 400 metres of prisons and young offender institutions. Prior to this, police could only act where there was evidence of contraband being smuggled.

Drone operators are to be fined up to £2,500, while those smuggling illicit items may face up to a decade behind bars.

The crackdown comes as figures reveal the number of drones sighted, intercepted, or captured within prison grounds has more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, with over 500 drones being seen or seized.

The new law follows a £100 million investment in increased prison security measures, which has seen 95 prisons equipped with new trace detection technology and 75 additional prisons equipped with X-ray body scanners.

Other measures include the deployment of more than 600 trained search dogs to help crack down on attempts to smuggle illicit contraband into prisons, and the recruitment of 160 additional counter-corruption personnel.

Speaking on the prison no fly zone restrictions, Edward Argar, the prisons and probation minister for the UK Government, said: “We are working harder than ever to prevent the smuggling of contraband into our prisons and this is the latest step to keep ahead of the tactics exploited by organised criminals.

Recommended reading

• New Threat Actors Contribute to Big Rise in Ransomware Attacks
• How Was the UK’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund Spent Last Year?
• Flight Trials for Scots Medicine-carrying Drones Conducted

“These new anti-drone measures – along with our advanced airport-style x-ray security and drug detection dogs – will crackdown on those illicit items that fuel violence behind bars.”

The legislation for the law was made in late October last year, with the previous prisons and probation minister, Damian Hinds MP, commenting at the time: “This is the latest step in the war we are winning to stop drugs, weapons and phones getting into our prisons.”