Gang jailed for smuggling drugs and weapons into prisons with drones
They have been described as 'Deliveroo for prisons'
A gang who used drones to smuggle drugs, weapons, and phones into Britain's prisons in a system likened to Deliveroo and Uber Eats for inmates have been jailed.
Shafaghatullah Mohseni, 29, orchestrated dozens of late night and early morning "drops" at prisons across London and the South East of England between December 2 2024 and February 26 2025.
Hashim Al-Hussaini, 28, Mohammed Hamoud, 22, Faiz Salah, 29, Zahar Essaghi, 51, Mustafa Ibrahim, 30, and Emanuel Fisniku, 25, assisted Mohseni, acting as lookouts and drivers, as well as receiving payments for the illicit shipments.
Harrow Crown Court, sitting at Hendon Magistrates' Court, heard at least two flick knives were among contraband planned to be smuggled into the prisons, as well as packages of drugs including cannabis, Xanax and Valium, and tiny mobile phones that could be hidden from guards.
Judge James Lofthouse said it was a "well-oiled conspiracy" which prison guards struggled to tackle - even if they had actually seen the drones making the drop-offs at cell windows.
Staff shortages meant guards could head to the cells to watch - through the door hatch - as "prisoners were stuffing items behind pipes".
But by the time enough prison staff were available to conduct a search, the illicit items had vanished, said the judge.
"Those who conspire for profit to flood our prisons with drugs and mobile phones, and are heedless to whatever else including weapons they smuggle in, facilitate further criminality, and undermine the general running and good order of our prisons", said the judge.
He said inmates had items delivered "to order", and criticised the "corrosive" impact on prison safety and security from drones arriving with packages "as if by Uber Eats or Deliveroo".
The Metropolitan Police said the gang was responsible for 75% of all drone drops into London prisons between December 2024 and February 2025.
All seven defendants admitted their roles in a "serious, organised, and prolific enterprise" to supply Class B and C drugs, and conveying list A and B articles into prisons.
They would travel by car to the prisons, often in the early hours of the morning, and fly packages filled with contraband through cell windows.
The gang targeted at least nine prisons including Wormwood Scrubs, Brixton, Pentonville, Wandsworth, Norwich, and Leicester, the court heard.
One of the drones was recovered by police after it crashed into a woman's backyard near HMP Wandsworth, the court heard.
She told officers that a man had knocked on her door to collect the drone in the early hours of the morning, but she had refused his entry.
Close relatives of prisoners were found to have sent large sums of money to Mohseni, as payment for the items, the court heard.
"The headline is that Mr Mohseni received £26,785 from 14 individuals who are directly linked to a serving prisoner, at a prison where he was delivering items," said Mr Barker.
Mohseni was at the centre of a "web of financial transfers" which saw him receive money and then pay the rest of his co-conspirators.
Defending him, Michael McAlinden, said that Mohseni began the offending as a means to pay off his debts.
Mohseni, of Edgware, Salah, of north-west London, Essaghi, of north-west London, Ibrahim of Harrow Weald, Fisniku of Islington, Al-Hussaini, of Harrow, and Hamoud, also of Harrow were all told they must serve 40% of their sentences before being released on licence.