MACON — An alleged smuggling ring said to have airdropped drugs, cigarettes, cellphones, weapons and other contraband into 10 federal prisons in eight Southern and Middle Atlantic states was based at a former daycare center here that some of the accused dubbed “the Lab.”
Officials, in announcing Wednesday the indictments of a dozen people facing charges in the case, described their crackdown as “sophisticated and sprawling” and the largest federal prosecution of its kind so far in the battle to stanch the flow of contraband into prisons from above.
William R. “Will” Keyes, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said the 12 people implicated, almost all of them from Macon or with ties to it, were part of an alleged criminal enterprise that, in at least 38 instances, flew six large-payload drones to deliver contraband to federal lockups in Atlanta and Jesup, and at prisons in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
At a news conference, Keyes offered little to no detail on how the people charged were implicated or about the workings of their alleged operation. He said the contraband that was delivered included phones, methamphetamine and marijuana, as well as weapons, saw blades for use as escape tools and tobacco.
“This contraband was intended for the prison population, threatening the safety of all,” Keyes said.
Drone drops have increasingly become a nightmare for prison officials to police. Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office, spoke at Wednesday’s news conference and said the proliferation of smuggling drones used to make drops at prisons has, at night, made the skies above some of them “look like a small airport.”
Those indicted face multiple charges that include conspiracy to use drones to introduce contraband into federal prisons. Six of the accused have been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Seven have been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Four have been charged in a K2 or synthetic marijuana conspiracy.
The former daycare center known as “the Lab” sits on Macon’s west side along a well-traveled street in a neighborhood near a park and a convenience store.
According to the indictment, it served as a storehouse for contraband and narcotics. Five drones were “routinely activated at and near ‘the Lab’ in the days leading up to prison contraband drops,” and one of the alleged conspirators “communicated with federal prison inmates to facilitate” the drops, the indictment states.
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