Oh, give us a drone-related small crime story any day, we dare ya. We have a stiffy over them every time.

Take this one from New York, in the USA, where Associated Press (quoting prison officials) reports that a drone recently flew over the grounds of an upstate New York prison in the dead of night and released a package containing knives, a cellphone, bandannas, hair clippers and a green leafy substance between two dormitories.

The incident happened at Marcy Correctional facility around 01:00AM last Saturday.

It was not good news for the intended recipients however, as the package was quickly recovered by prison staff after the drone was detected flying above the facility.

But that was not before the staff called in the bomb squad to make sure the package did not pose an immediate threat., as it had wires protruding from it,

New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision officials said investigators were trying to determine who was responsible.

The two double-edged knives were 20 centimetres long and there was about 530 grams of the unidentified green leafy substance wrapped in clear plastic and balloons.

The package also included five pieces of paper “saturated in intoxicating chemicals” and chargers and accessories for the two hair clippers, according to the department.

The drone itself was then recovered outside the prison, which is about 290 kilometres northwest of New York City,

Using drones to smuggle contraband into prisons is nothing new: Department Commissioner Daniel Martuscello called it “an evolving but imminent threat” to the state correctional system, which has experienced about a dozen other drone incidents. The commissioner used the incident to lobby for state legislation designed to address illegal drone use.