Sly cocaine dealers are beating the coronavirus lockdown by using drones to deliver drugs.
The move means they avoid the increased risk of being pulled over by police – who say pushers are now really standing out on our quiet streets.
Customers place bright towels in their gardens as markers to spot from the air.
The drug-loaded drone lands and the buyer collects their bag before meeting the dealer in a car park later to pay.
A source said: “It is the perfect way to beat lockdown. Dealers are worried about being pulled over if they go out but this lets them peddle from their own homes. Its a real boon.”
One dealer in Cheshire said he loads his drone, controlled via a tablet, with up to ten £50 bags of coke.
He said: “The police are stopping everyone so it’s risky driving drugs around. You stand out a mile.
“I forked out a grand and a half for this Phantom 4. I can attach ten bags a time. That’s £500 a go.
"I just fly it out from mine then make sure there’s a visible landing pad – something bright I’ll get customers to put on the ground. Then I’ll just control the landing, drop the gear off. Job done.
“I’ll collect the cash at supermarket car parks. That way I don’t have to be carrying any gear.
“I only ever have to leave the house to reload on the product and collect cash.”
Sussex Police said they are making “far more arrests” in the lockdown.
But Det Supt Jo Banks said: “The demand for drugs hasn’t changed but how the drugs networks are operating has changed.”
Last month, National Crime Agency director general Lynne Owens said some dealers are dressing as key workers to exploit the lockdown.
She said: “They are having to find new ways of working. Dealers recognise that with fewer people on the streets they are more visible.”
Dealers have been using drones to deliver drugs to prisons for years, leading sites to put up nets to stop them.
