Anticipate Drug Smuggling Using Drones Such As In Nusa Kambangan, Baubau Prison: Ready To Shoot Falls

Illustration. Drones to spray disinfectant in the Jalan Jenderal Sudirman area, Jakarta, March 2020. (Antara-Reno Esnir)

SULTRA - Head of the Baubau Penitentiary (LP), Herman Mulawarman, said there was a possibility of putting drugs into the LP by air using a drone. He also confirmed that the drone that passed the LP area in Southeast Sulawesi (Sultra) would be shot down.

"So we anticipate, so I ordered members when there is a drone circling or stopping above the LP area so that it is paralyzed by being shot down, because maybe it is a mode to monitor the activity of the prison area from the air," he said, in Baubau, Sunday, August 28.

He said it was followed by a drone known to fly above Baubau Prison, although this is the first time this has happened.

"Earlier (drone) had passed above and had been monitoring for a long time. Well, after I saw it and informed the officers, finally everyone went out to see, and when we were chasing it, (the drone) moved quickly and disappeared, so it was difficult for us to see," he said.

He considered that the drone activity in the Baubau LP area was suspected by outside mode to monitor the condition of the LP.

"So I remember that this drone needs to be monitored too, because things like this often happen in several large prisons, once when I was in the narcotics prison service, I happened to be the head of the Nusa Kambangan Narcotics Prison, and every night the drone was always above the residential area (convicts), so when (drone) came down and when we chased him up (flying). So those are the ways that big airports in Java or in Nusa Kambangan," he said.

According to him, drone technology that is usually used by dealers and drug couriers is not only to monitor the prison situation, but can be used to carry narcotics through the upper lane (air) which then goes inside and then moves quickly to leave the target.

"In this (LP) it's wide, once he (drone) enters, just take it down quickly, that's why we anticipate. So I ordered earlier members when the drone was circling over the LP area, especially the inside page being shot down, because we didn't have the tools to drop the drone," he said.

"Recently, we found that two inmates were proven to have methamphetamine after being searched. So with the arrest, our supervision is getting tighter so that other ways can be used to enter the dangerous goods," he continued.

Old modes include entrusting or throwing illegal objects across fences that are not that high. However, the surveillance system by officers, apart from monitoring suspicious movements, also uses surveillance cameras.