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2 arrested for drone use in London Gatwick Airport case
An EasyJet plan on its last approach before landing at Gatwick Airport near London on Friday.
The British police say two people were arrested early on Saturday morning for having suspected "criminal use of drones" in the Gatwick Airport case which has created nightmarish holiday travel delays for tens of thousands of passengers.
The Sussex police did not release the age or sex of the two suspects arrested late Friday night and did not say where the arrest was made. The two have not been charged.
Police superintendent James Collis asked the public in the Gatwick area to be vigilant.
"Our surveys are still ongoing, and our airport activities continue to build resilience to detect and further drone burglary by exploiting a variety of tactics," he said.
New drone observations Friday had caused fresh problems for vacationers at the airport, which reopened in the morning after a 36-hour shutdown to quickly stop flights for more than an hour late afternoon on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Open opening, closing and reopening of Britain's second most busy airport due to repeated drone observations raised many questions to British officials, including questions about how safe it is to fly with drones and why it took so long to do so. arrests.
Friday night moving in Gatwick still caused more delays and cancellations when the holiday season peaked. The continuing drone crisis in Gatwick, located 30 kilometers south of London, has had ripple effects throughout the international aviation system.
The last drone sighting came after British police and transport workers said there was extra action being taken to prevent drones from entering the airport, earning 43 million passengers a year.
Military forces with special equipment have been brought in and police units work around the clock. Police say a sophisticated drone operation is aimed at the airport to cause maximum disruption to the holiday.
The motive for the drone invasion was not clear, but British police said there were no indications that it was "terrorist related".
Gatwick reopened at 6am on Friday after being closed Wednesday night and all day Thursday after the authorities said drones repeatedly broke the perimeter of the airport, threatening incoming and outgoing flights.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Friday morning there had been about 40 observations of "a small number of drones" while the airport was closed. He told the BBC that the drone disorder in Gatwick was "second to none anywhere in the world."
Grayling said further "military capabilities" and a number of security measures had been put in place overnight, but would not elaborate. He said the airport was considered safe for flights Friday, even though the drone operator or operators had not been arrested.
Thursday thunder ceased travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers, since about 1[ads1]10,000 people had planned to pass through Gatwick that day.
After the flight operation started Friday, the airport fought to solve a massive luggage compartment of passengers and interrupted, delayed or diverted aircraft. The number of passengers expected Friday was even higher than the previous day, and about 145 of Friday's 837 scheduled flights in Gatwick were canceled to deal with the crush.
Then Gatwick's start and landing had to be suspended again as a "precaution" after reporting that a drone was discovered at 17:10, said the airport.
The planes circled over London or sat in the Gatwick gates and waited to find out what was going to happen Friday night before they got a new "all-clear" 70 minutes later.
"The military measures we have in place at the airport have given us the security needed to reopen our airport." Airport's tweeted moments after flights resumed.
The hundreds of travelers stuck in Gatwick By Thursday's closure, freezing conditions were described when they slept on benches or the airport floor. Many complained that they were not kept informed of redirected flights.
Meanwhile, British officials discussed whether there was an available "tactical alternative" due to concerns that such an act could unintentionally harm the people at
"Shooting drone out of the sky is probably one of the least effective options" available, said Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of Sussex Police.
He said police believe there was more than one drone operating around Gatwick in the last two days, and that it was possible, the drones were operated from quite far away.
