Jailed: Tomas Natalevicius

A MAN who tried to fly drugs and mobile phones into Pentonville Prison using a drone has been jailed.

Tomas Natalevicius, 35, of no fixed address, was sentenced to seven years and eight months at Luton Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle contraband into the Caledonian Road jail.

He was identified as a suspect through DNA after police on patrol recovered a drone he was attempting to fly into the prison on August 15 of last year.

A string which carried a package caught in the drone propellers and crashed. A vehicle was then seen speeding away.

Natalevicius was jailed alongside accomplice Dalius Zilinskas, 33, from Newham, east London, with whom he tried to smuggle cocaine and cannabis into HMP The Mount, in Hertfordshire, two months later. Zilinskas was jailed for two years and eight months after pleading guilty.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Heatley, of the Met’s Central North Borough Command Unit, said: “These recovered drones carried a sub­stantial amount of Class A drugs and a large quantity of mobile phones into prisons, which we were able to intercept thanks to the vigilance of officers and the public.

“The message is clear: if you commit a criminal offence such as this you will be caught.”