Police ‘unequivocally’ affirm London airport drone sightings
LONDON — Chagrined county police in England insisted Monday that drone sightings over London’s Gatwick Airport were authentic, while a local man who was arrested and cleared as a suspect in the aerial mystery that brought days of travel havoc said he felt “completely violated.”
The Sussex Police department deemed the affirmation necessary after a senior detective noted it was possible drones hadn’t flown over the airport last week, sowing confusion over the precautionary shutdowns that affected tens of thousands of passengers.
“We can unequivocally state that there have been numerous illegal drone sightings at the airport over three days from 19 to 21 December,” Deputy Chief Constable Jo Shiner said.
The confirmation came after Chief Detective Jason Tingley told the BBC that investigators were making progress, but also had to consider the “possibility” that people who reported seeing drones around Gatwick were mistaken. He was referring to the widely accepted limitations of eyewitness accounts.