2026-06-24T20:30:00.460Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
美国司法部宣布对一起“精心策划”的犯罪行动提起公诉，检方称该行动使用大功率无人机向美国东海岸各州的监狱空运武器、毒品、手机和越狱工具。
佐治亚州中区联邦检察官威廉·基斯（William Keyes）与联邦监狱局、亚特兰大联邦调查局（FBI）的调查人员表示，这起从佐治亚州梅肯市一处前日间照料中心发起的非法无人机行动，是将多架无人机用于夜间秘密任务的中转站，这些无人机曾向10所联邦监狱空投违禁品。
“我们今天在此宣布一份起诉书已公开，该起诉书指控了美国司法部有史以来查办的最精密、规模最大的利用无人机向联邦监狱系统输送违禁品的犯罪团伙，”基斯在周三的新闻发布会上说道。
这份包含17项罪名的联邦起诉书指控该团伙至少使用6架独立无人机，向联邦监狱空投过种类繁多的违禁品，共计至少38次，其中包括冰毒、合成大麻、丁丙诺啡、可卡因、手机、烟草、香烟、掺毒卷烟纸，甚至还有“旨在用作武器并协助越狱”的锯片。
检方在起诉书中指出，监狱内的囚犯使用非法手机协助外界的无人机操作员导航，有时甚至实时发送地图，帮助操作员将装满武器、各类毒品和手机的垃圾袋和人造草皮包裹空投下去。
据执法部门消息，在部分案件中，监狱惩教人员在无人机着陆后数分钟内就查获了装满毒品和其他违禁品的包裹；而在另一些案件中，空投的包裹在执法人员找到前就消失不见了。
“起诉书中描述的这一犯罪行为是一起有组织的协同行动，使用重型载荷无人机向多个州的联邦监狱输送危险违禁品，”联邦监狱局局长威廉·K·马歇尔三世（William K. Marshall III）周三在梅肯说道。
“此类行为威胁到监狱内所有生活和工作的人员的安全，绝对不会被容忍，”他补充道。
联邦监狱局启用了无人机探测系统，向执法人员提供包括无人机品牌型号、飞行发射地点在内的数据，帮助锁定这起高科技阴谋的涉案人员。执法部门表示，他们从2023年到2026年一直在追踪这一案件。
6月10日，佐治亚州中区大陪审团对12名被告提起联邦指控，罪名包括毒品和枪支贩运。他们被指控在佐治亚州、西弗吉尼亚州、肯塔基州、田纳西州、弗吉尼亚州、路易斯安那州、阿拉巴马州和密西西比州的10所联邦监狱主导了这起精密的无人机走私计划。
“它们飞行速度快、操作远程，对执法部门来说是一项挑战，”基斯说道，“但我认为本案证明了我们有能力快速解决这一问题。这是一次非常精密的调查，也是一个非常复杂的难题。”
今年早些时候，21名州总检察长发起了一项跨州行动，打击他们所称的“令人担忧的”非法向监狱空投违禁品的无人机数量激增问题，这些违禁品包括毒品、武器和手机。在写给特朗普政府的一封信中，该总检察长联盟表示，根据现行联邦法律，只有少数特定的执法机构“有权探测、追踪和处理未经授权的无人机”。这意味着惩教官员往往缺乏实时干预所需的法律权限和必要工具。
今年5月，白宫官员承认，过去联邦政府“没有以足够的紧迫感”应对向联邦监狱空运违禁品的无人机激增问题。
在致各州总检察长的一封信中，拜登政府表示，去年12月签署的《更安全天空法案》首次为州和地方机构提供了适当资源，用于瘫痪和扰乱非法无人机，具体措施包括向联邦应急管理局（FEMA）提供5亿美元拨款、开发新的FBI培训项目，以及成立国土安全部办公室以遏制这一威胁。
周三，亚特兰大FBI分局特别代理主管马洛·格雷厄姆（Marlo Graham）表示，用于运送违禁品的无人机仍是执法部门面临的严重公共安全问题，威胁到监狱和社区的安全。
“换个角度来看这个问题，部分州和联邦监狱的无人机走私活动过于频繁，以至于到了晚上，这些监狱设施看起来就像一个小型机场，”格雷厄姆说道。
CNN记者斯图尔特·克拉克（Stuart Clark）对本文亦有贡献。
Justice Department announces arrests in ‘sophisticated’ drone network used to deliver meth, phones and weapons to prisons
2026-06-24T20:30:00.460Z / CNN
The Justice Department has announced charges in a “sophisticated” criminal operation that it says used high-powered drones to deliver weapons, drugs, cell phones and escape tools into prisons in east coast states.
US Attorney William Keyes in the middle district of Georgia, along with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and FBI investigators in Atlanta, say the rogue drone operation led out of a former daycare in Macon, Georgia was a staging ground where multiple drones were launched on covert missions to deliver the contraband by air to 10 federal prisons at night.
“We’re here to announce the unsealing of an indictment that charges the most sophisticated and sprawling criminal enterprise using drones to introduce contraband into the federal prison system ever charged by the Department of Justice,” Keyes said during a press conference Wednesday.
The 17-count federal indictment alleges the group used at least six separate drones to deliver a wide-ranging bazaar of contraband to federal prisons at least 38 times, including methamphetamine, synthetic marijuana, suboxone, cocaine, cell phones, tobacco, cigarettes, drug-infused papers, and even saw blades “designed and intended to be used as weapons and to facilitate escape.”
Prosecutors say in the indictment that inmates inside the prisons used illegal phones to help guide the drone pilots on the outside, sometimes even sending maps in real time to help the pilots deliver trash bags and astroturf stuffed with weapons, various narcotics, and cell phones.
In some cases, prison corrections officers recovered bags stuffed with drugs and other contraband just minutes after the drones landed, and in other cases the drops vanished before authorities located them, according to law enforcement.
“The allegations outlined in this indictment describe a coordinated criminal effort involving heavy payload drones to introduce dangerous contraband into federal prisons across multiple states,” William K. Marshall III, Director of the BOP said in Macon on Wednesday.
“Activity of this nature threatens the safety of everyone who lives and works inside our facilities and will not be tolerated” he said.
The Bureau of Prisons used drone detection systems which alerted authorities with data including make and models and flight launch locations of the unmanned aerials to help pinpoint those involved in the high-tech scheme, which law enforcement says they tracked between 2023 and 2026.
On June 10, a grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia indicted twelve defendants on federal charges including trafficking for drug and firearms distribution. They are accused of spearheading the sophisticated drone-smuggling scheme at ten federal prisons throughout Georgia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
“They’re fast moving, they’re remote, it’s a challenge for law enforcement,” Keyes said. “But I think that’s what this case demonstrates is that we are at the speed to tackle this problem. This is a very sophisticated investigation, a very complex problem.”
Earlier this year, 21 attorneys general launched a multi-state effort to combat what they described as an “alarming” rise in drones illegally dropping contraband into prisons, including narcotics, weapons, and cell phones. In a letter to the Trump administration, the coalition of AG’s said that, under current federal law, only a narrow set of law enforcement agencies are “authorized to detect, track and mitigate unauthorized drones. Meaning, correctional officials often lack the legal authority and the necessary tools to intervene in real time.”
In May, White House officials acknowledged that in the past, the federal government “did not move with sufficient urgency” to confront the surge in drones ferrying contraband into federal prisons.
In a letter sent to state attorneys general, the administration said that Trump’s Safer Skies Act — signed last December — marks the first time state and local agencies have been given proper resources to disable and disrupt rogue drones, by providing $500 million in FEMA grants, developing new FBI training programs, and launching a Department of Homeland Security office aimed at curbing the threat.
On Wednesday, FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said that drones delivering contraband remains a serious public safety issue for law enforcement that puts both the prisons and communities in danger.
“To put this issue into perspective, some state and federal prison-drones smuggling contraband have been so frequent that the facilities look like a small airport in the evening,” Graham said.
CNN’s Stuart Clark contributed to this report.
