A 21-year-old Ukrainian citizen who flew a drone over the presidential residence and government buildings in Warsaw has been accused of violating the aviation law and has been deported, Polish media reported.
According to RMF FM, the man who operated the drone in the prohibited area voluntarily agreed to the fine and paid 4,000 zlotys.
The decision to deport the Ukrainian was also approved, and he is also banned from entering Poland and other Schengen countries for five years.
A 17-year-old Belarusian woman, who was also detained for launching a drone over the presidential residence and government buildings, was only a witness in the case and was released.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Commandant, Junior Inspector Robert Szumiata, said that the detained Ukrainian was already in the hands of the border guard, Polish Radio writes.
As RMF FM notes, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) is investigating whether the drone flight over Belvedere Palace was a spying incident. Among other things, it checked the contents of the foreigners’ phones, but no evidence was found that they were acting on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
The other day Polish security services defused a drone in the centre of Warsaw. Officers of the State Guard Service detained two people who were operating a drone in a no-fly zone without the necessary authorisation. The detainees turned out to be a 21-year-old citizen of Ukraine and a 17-year-old citizen of Belarus.
The incident comes after Poland shot down several of the nearly 20 Russian drones that violated its airspace on 10 September.