Two people arrested after a drone that damaged thousands of flights at the British airport

This week, a drone paralyzed the operations of the second largest airport in the United Kingdom, a few days before the Christmas holidays.

• The flight took place last Wednesday (19), when two large drones flew over.

The incident occurred last Wednesday (19), when two large drones flew over the Gatwick Airport area in London. The chaos was great precisely because it is one of the busiest times of airports.

Susbad police say they arrested a 54-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man, both from the nearby town of Crawley, shortly after 10 pm local time last Friday (21). The two people were arrested for suspicion of disruption of the services of the aerodrome of civil aviation and endangering or may endanger the safety of operations and persons.

"As part of our investigations into the use of drones for criminal purposes Susbad police made two arrests," said James Collis, Superintendent of Susbad Police, in a statement on Saturday. "Our investigations are still ongoing and our airport operations continue to search for and prevent further UAV incursions by implementing a series of tactics."

Drones appeared near the airport late Wednesday night and were also seen on Thursday.

According to Reuters drones reappear near the airport whenever the authorities attempt to reopen the runway for the flights. According to the New York Times more than 1,000 flights were affected.

The reasons for the case are not known. Before the arrests, police were investigating the possibility that the incident was a kind of environmental protest. Deputy Chief of the Susbad Police, Steve Barry, told the Guardian that authorities were considering "a whole range of possibilities, ranging from really sophisticated criminal behavior to individuals wanting to be mean" .

motivation, punishment can be severe. According to NYT the maximum sentence may be a life sentence.

The incident, which according to the Guardian, was "the most serious problem ever caused by a drone at a major international airport," has serious consequences for airport security. Chris Woodroofe, director of operations at Gatwick, said it was "an unprecedented problem."

"This is not a problem at Gatwick Airport," Woodroofe said. "This is not even a single problem in the UK – it is an international problem."

[New York Times, Reuters]