Mahamood Diallo Blin is jailed for nearly seven years after using drones to smuggle drugs and phones into London prisons.
Mahamood Diallo Blin is 26. His address is Charlton Church Lane, Greenwich. A court gave him six years and eleven months. This happened on Monday at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Blin admitted his crimes earlier. He confessed to conspiracy charges including drugs, phones, and tobacco, and planned to sneak these into prisons.
Police started investigating in August 2023. Prison staff found a crashed drone. It held drugs and phones inside HMP Pentonville. Detectives found it linked to another crash at HMP Coldingley in Surrey.
The Met Police and SEROCU teamed up. They found 37 drone deliveries involving drugs, tobacco, and phones. The delivery locations were prisons in the area. Police arrested Blin relating to these crimes on March 5 last year.
A police inspector, Zara Baker, commented that the police tackle drug dealing to help lower crime across London. She stated smuggling drugs into prisons is dangerous. Violence increases for staff and inmates, and it impacts rehabilitation efforts.
Blin’s sentence shows how serious his actions were. It sends a message to other offenders. SEROCU stated they prioritize stopping drugs and other illegal items in prison because drones deliver items into prisons often.
They collaborated with the police and prison services. They stopped Blin, a prolific drone user who ignored the harm to prison staff and inmates. The authorities will keep disrupting this activity, because it fuels organised crime.