Drones seen flying over prisons in southern China, prompting security concerns

Many drones have been spotted recently flying over a cluster of prisons in southeast China, posing what authorities said was “a grave threat” to the facilities’ operations and prompting local law enforcement departments to launch an investigation, state media report.

The devices were seen hovering or manoeuvring above the jails’ dormitories, teaching blocks, administrative buildings and residential quarters of armed prison police forces in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province, the Strait Metropolis Daily reported. Police were investigating possible motives for the flights.

“The drone operators might intend to deliver dangerous goods to inmates or to take videos of correctional officers and facilities, which poses a grave security threat,” the procuratorate, or prosecutor’s office, of Gushan district was quoted as saying.

The prosecutor told the Fuzhou-based newspaper that it had already advised the jails to report the cases to local police to trace the sources of the drones. It also called on the facilities’ administrators to take measures to block the drones.