A 36-year-old suspect from Kingston was arrested last month for allegedly using a drone to smuggle drugs and contraband into Warkworth Institution in September.
The Kingston Police Service said investigators with its intelligence unit launched an investigation in September into a local resident who was suspected of using drone drops to smuggle drugs and contraband to an inmate at the medium-security institution near Campbellford.
The investigation concluded on Oct. 24, they said, with the arrest of a 36-year-old Kingston resident. They did not release a name, but said the person was allegedly caught in the act of flying the drone, and apprehended by officers from the Kingston Police and the Ontario Provincial Police’s Campbellford and Cobourg detachments.
“The accused was arrested in a vehicle near Warkworth Institution as they were flying a drone,” police alleged.
“At the time of their arrest, the accused was in possession of a package prepared for delivery into the institution, along with additional evidence of previous drone drops.”
The contents of the packages included 180 grams of cannabis, 57 grams of cannabis shatter, 24 cell phones and 1,000 grams of tobacco, police said.
The approximate institutional value of the package was $200,000, they added.
The accused was charged with committing an act likely to cause mischief endangering life, dangerous operation of a conveyance (drone), and two counts of breach of release order.
They were charged and held pending a bail hearing.