Police: Men plotted to use drone to smuggle drugs, gun, porn into prison

CUMBERLAND, Md., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Authorities in Maryland said two men were arrested in an alleged scheme to use an aerial drone to deliver drugs, porn and a gun to a prison.

Police responded to a report of a suspicious car near the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland Saturday and discovered the two men inside the vehicle were in possession of an aerial drone, a handgun, drugs and pornographic DVDs.

The drugs found in the vehicle were identified as Suboxone, an opiate drug commonly used by heroin addicts to wean themselves off the substance, and synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or "Spice."

The Maryland Department of Public Safety tweeted a picture of the bounty seized from the vehicle.

Officials said it would have been unlikely for the gun to make it into the prison via the drone, as the device was only designed to carry 6-8 ounces of cargo.

"Contraband fuels violence, and we are committed to keeping it out for the safety of our staff and the inmates," Corrections Secretary Stephen T. Moyer told reporters Monday.

The car's occupants, Thaddeus Shortz, 25, Keith Brian Russell, 29, were arrested on multiple charges. Investigators said they had been under surveillance for weeks on suspicion of plotting to use a drone to smuggle contraband into the prison.

An inmate accused of plotting with Shortz and Russell is also expected to face charges, police said.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said a July 27 fight at the Mansfield Correctional Institution was sparked by a package of tobacco, marijuana and heroin dropped by a drone.