Jailbirds turn to toy helicopter to smuggle phones
SAO PAULO (AP) – A plot to smuggle cellular phones into a prison yard using a remote-control model helicopter has been foiled after Brazilian police discovered the high-tech toy in the trunk of a car outside a maximum-security lockup.
Police announced Monday they had confiscated the 1 yard-long chopper near the Presidente Venceslau penitentiary in Sao Paulo state and arrested four people riding in the car.
Attached to the helicopter’s base was a basket-like container with nine cell phones wrapped in a disposable diaper, a police statement said. Another five cell phones were found inside the car trunk.
In March, police thwarted an attempt at using carrier pigeons to fly cell phones into a prison near the southeastern city of Sorocaba