Gardaí have arrested four men suspected of attempting to smuggle drugs and phones into a Dublin prison.
The operation began on Sunday when gardaí from Ronanstown station were alerted to an attempt to use drones to smuggle drugs and phones into the campus containing Wheatfield and Cloverhill prisons in Clondalkin, west Dublin.
In a follow-up operation, gardaí searched a home in the area where they located a drone and several electronic devices. More searches in southwest Dublin led to the seizure of a vehicle.
An image of the seizures published by gardaí shows a drone and remote controller as well as several small mobile phones that are typical of the kind smuggled into prisons.
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Four men, aged in their late teens, 20s, 30s and 40s, were arrested and held in various Dublin Garda stations.
They have since been released pending the preparation of a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The smuggling of phones, drugs and weapons into prisons via drones is a persistent problem for the prison service, particularly regarding Cloverhill and Wheatfield.
Last year, authorities in Wheatfield made 411 seizures of phones, 371 drug seizures and 260 weapons seizures.
In Cloverhill, there were 334 phone seizures, 235 drug seizures and 16 weapons seizures.
