In response to teenagers using drugs and dangerous liquid in e-cigarettes, police in Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city, have started using drones in schools to spot the smokers.
"We show the footage to the school administration and the school administration identifies the pupil and provides the data, and legal proceedings are initiated," says Kaunas police officer Agnė Greblikaitė.
Children aged 16 and above can face fines. If the pupils are younger, their parents are fined or receive a warning.
"Eight pupils have been found smoking electronic cigarettes in the school's vicinity, and since they are all 16 years old, they will be issued with administrative offence reports," says Greblikaitė.
According to the police, a bigger challenge is to detect distributors of illegal e-cigarettes.
"[The teenagers] use codes and, in some cases, the narcotic substances are left in a secret place," says Chief Prosecutor of Kaunas District Darius Valkavičius.
Due to the use of illegal substances, eight teenagers were admitted to Kaunas Clinics last weekend alone.
"They were intoxicated, [had] breathing problems, some with higher blood pressure, others with lower blood pressure, depending on the substances they took," says Algirdas Dagys, head of the department at Kaunas Clinics. "The youngest ones are usually in their teens, aged 14."
Medics say they report all cases to the police. Officials promise to use drones to monitor school grounds until the start of school holidays.
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