Police investigate drone flying over Polish government buildings
The incident involving a drone operating in a flight-restricted government area in Warsaw may have been an act of recklessness and is being investigated as a breach of aviation law, according to reports by law enforcement services.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that the State Protection Service (SOP) had successfully neutralised a drone that was flying over government buildings and the presidential residence in Warsaw.
Edyta Adamus from the Warsaw Police Headquarters told PAP that a 21-year-old Ukrainian man and a 17-year-old Belarusian woman, who had operated the drone without the necessary license and within a no-fly zone, were detained at around 8pm that evening.
According to Piotr Antoni Skiba, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, law enforcement services were investigating the incident as a breach of aviation law rather than espionage, which could lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Speculation regarding a potential spy operation was also dismissed by Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for the minister-coordinator of special services, who said that the young individuals may have been recklessly flying a recreational drone over government buildings.
For security reasons, unmanned aerial vehicles may not be operated above government buildings or other critical infrastructure, which are clearly marked as such with special signs and visible in an application for licensed drone operators.(PAP)wpb/jch
