LONDON: Organised crime gangs in the UK are using drones to deliver drugs and some weapons to inmates inside jails, threateningnationalsecurity, the prison watchdog warned on Tuesday.

The gangs `are able to deliver contraband to jails holding extremely dangerous prisoners`, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said in reports published on Tuesday after inspections of Manchester prison in northwest England and Long Lartin prison in western England.

`The safety of staff, prisoners and ultimately that of the public is seriously compromised by the failure to tackle what has become a threat to national security,` added Taylor.

There were `cata-strophic levels` of drugs present at the prison in Manchester, he warned.

He also said that the UK government and police had `given up` controlling airspace over the two jails.

`It is highly alarming that the police and prison service have in effect ceded the airspace above two high-security prisons to organised crime gangs, said Taylor.

The Manchester prison had a `serious problem with drugs, weapons, mobile telephones, and even takeaway meals being delivered by drones to cell windows`, the report said. It added that there had been some 220 drone sightings at the jail in the past year, `by far the highest across all prisons in England and Wales`.-AFP