The number of illegal items thrown over the walls of London prisons has soared by more than 400 per cent in the last two years.
Last year, 67 banned objects including knives, drugs and mobile phones were thrown into prisons across the capital compared to just 12 in 2013.
The figures were released by the Ministry of Justice via a freedom of information request.
It comes amid a huge rise across England and Wales with the number of banned items smuggled into prisons more than doubling in the last two years.
At Wormwood Scrubs, more than half the total amount of contraband recorded was smuggled into prison with 36 items thrown inside.
The sharpest rise was seen at Wandsworth with 14 illegal items smuggled into prison after just two objects entered the jail in the previous three years.
Figures also show banned items entered Brixton and Thameside jails. Figures were not provided for Holloway prison and Feltham young offenders institution.
At Pentonville, 15 illegal items were recorded being thrown over the walls in the last year, but one resident told the BBC the figure did not reflect the true scale of the problem.
They said: “They've missed off a zero there. In the last year alone, I've seen it a good couple of dozen times myself.”
Banned items thrown into prisons last year
Wormwood Scrubs - 36
Pentonville - 15
Wandsworth - 14
Brixton - 1
Thameside - 1
John Attard of the Prison Governors’ Association told the corporation: “It's not a fluke, people plan, they know the best parts of a wall to throw things over.
"There are all sorts of methods to get things over a prison wall. We've had people putting drugs in dead birds and sending them over with tennis racquets.
"We're talking about thousands of pounds worth of contraband but the criminals that are throwing them over are prepared to lose [part of] that to get some through."
A former prisoner likened smuggling items into jails as a “military operation” with parcels thrown over the walls in innocuous items such as tennis balls, juice cartons and shampoo bottles.
Last month, two people from London were charged with smuggling mobile phones and cannabis into a Kent prison using a drone.
The Ministry of Justice said it "must do more" to tackle contraband being smuggled into prisons.
