British prisons are facing an unprecedented surge in drone-delivered contraband, with authorities recording 1,712 drone sightings in the year ending March 2025, a record high since monitoring began in 2014. Shafaghatullah Mohseni, 29, was recently sentenced to five years and three months for leading a gang that conducted an estimated 140 illegal drone flights to nine prisons between December 2024 and February 2025. The gang earned nearly £27,000, about $36,000, delivering drugs, phones, chargers, tobacco, and even knives to inmates.

Prison governors report that contraband delivered by drones is driving up violence and drug use within facilities. Inmates order items ranging from weight-loss injections to weapons through phones concealed from authorities or via contacts inside. Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the British Prison Officers' Association, warned that drones have delivered machetes and could soon transport firearms or enable escapes. The National Audit Office found that drug addiction among prisoners has been rising partly due to these deliveries, which can cost five to ten times their normal value.

The challenge is compounded by the fact that most British prisons were built decades or centuries before drones existed, making them secure from the ground but not from the air. Authorities are now exploring technologies used to counter Russian drones in Ukraine and have launched competitions to develop systems that can safely stop hostile drones within prison airspace. With drones becoming the most accessible smuggling method, replacing older techniques like throwing contraband over walls, prison officials warn the problem will only intensify without significant intervention.