Over at Crazy Engineers is a report that Police in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, plan to use pepperspray-equipped drones for riot control:
The Lucknow Police Senior Superintendent has informed the media that they have acquired five drones that are able to pepper spray unruly crowds. These drones cost Rs 6 lakh each and have a range of one kilometre. These drones are able to carry payloads of two kilograms and can fly up to a height of 600 meters. This isn’t the first time the authorities have deployed drones in the state. Previously the state government had hired surveillance drones during important religious and national festivals. The authorities were impressed by their capabilities and decided to buy them instead of hiring them for a fee.
The cost quoted is 600,000 Rupees, or about $9,600 (USD) per drone.
Additional coverage at engadget, Yahoo News and The Telegraph.
(Score: 1, Funny) by sigma on Friday April 10 2015, @03:56AM
Frankly, I don't blame the drones. I've produced an occasional spray while travelling in India myself.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 10 2015, @04:47AM
Bhut jolokia [wikipedia.org]