In this Monday Feb. 9, 2015 file photo, a drone Interceptor MP200, top, prepares to catch a drone DJI Phantom 2 with a net during a demonstration flight in La Queue-en-Brie, east of Paris
Three Al-Jazeera journalists have been arrested for illegally flying a drone in Paris Wednesday, after unidentified drones flew over the Eiffel Tower and key Paris landmarks for a second night running. It’s further baffled French authorities who are investigating a spate of unidentified flying objects in the Paris skies at a time of high security across the country.
The foreign nationals aged 70, 54 and 36 — who work for the Doha-based international broadcaster — were taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after police spotted a drone flying in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris, said Paris prosecutors’ spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.
She said it was unclear what the trio were trying to accomplish.
“Three Al-Jazeera English journalists have been held by police in Paris while filming a report on the city’s recent mystery drones,” the network said in a comment from its base in Qatar. “We will comment further when more information is available.”
The journalists can be held for a maximum of 24 hours under French law. Flying drones without a license in France is illegal and carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a 75,000 euros (USD85,000) fine.
The Al-Jazeera arrests come in the midst of a police investigation into a spate of mysterious drone sightings over the French capital, including on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Police sighted one or more drones in five instances buzzing in the Paris sky in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday — from 11.30 p.m. to 2 a.m.
An unidentified flying object was first seen Tuesday night near the Gare de l’Est train station, with sightings continuing in sequence for over two hours over the Paris Opera, then on to the Tuileries gardens, past the Eiffel Tower and then south past Paris’ Montparnasse Tower, according to Thibault-Lecuivre.
An inquiry was launched after drones, which are banned over Paris, were also spotted Monday night — including over the U.S. Embassy.
It’s not known who was behind the flights, how many objects there were in total, and even whether they were all coordinated. Thomas Adamson, Paris, AP
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