Someone’s about to be in hot water.
A drone was launched over a South Carolina jail — packed with all the makings of a good old-fashioned crab boil, complete with a jar of Old Bay Seasoning — in an apparent bid to have Christmas come a little early for some inmates.
But officers at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville were ready and waiting, intercepting the illicit high-flying care package, which in addition to steak and the king crab legs included two big bags of weed and two cartons of cigarettes, before its intended recipients could get a hold of it.
“We’re guessing the inmates were a bit crabby after that,” Chrysti Shain, communications director for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, quipped to The Post on Tuesday.
The would-be Christmas crab boil drone delivery even included a jar of Old Bay seasoning. SCDC
The delivery was confiscated just before it could be dropped into the yard, and an investigation is ongoing to find both the drone pilot and its intended recipients, who in addition to the holiday feast also missed out on a carton each of Marlboro Menthol and Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Shain said the contraband food was purchased at a Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Georgetown, about 80 miles away from the correctional facility as the drone files.
The drone was also carrying two large bags of marijuana. Lee Correctional InstitutionAlthough this particular drone smuggling attempt was more of the lighthearted variety, Shain said the unmanned aircraft are an ever-present threat for prisons in the state and that its corrections department spends millions of dollars each year countering airborne packages of everything from cell phones to methamphetamine to fentanyl.
“We fight nightly battles with drones,” Shain said, noting that some models can carry up to 30 pounds of cargo.
The Lee Correctional Institute has had a recurring problem with drone-delivered contraband, including cell phones, methamphetamine and fentanyl. AFP via Getty Images“It’s only a matter of time before the technology gets to the point where a drone can pick someone up and fly them away.”
The drone pilots sometimes go to extreme lengths to camouflage their deliveries, covering them with fake turf to blend in with the grass or even trash so they look like unassuming piles of litter.
The problem is so pervasive that the prison even has a dedicated drone team responsible for spotting and foiling similar aerial smuggling attempts.
Though Shain admits this particular parcel of surf-and-turf goodies “was unusual, even for us.”
