Thee Al-Jazeera Journalists Arrested For Flying UAVs For A Story About The Unidentified UAVs

Paris police are investigating a series of UAV flights over the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks in the city that occurred earlier this week. The fights, which reportedly occurred Tuesday and Wednesday nights, have raised concerns about security in the city, though police say they are not threatening.

While the persons responsible for those flights remain unidentified, three Al-Jazeera English journalists were arrested and detained for flying a UAV in connection with a story on the mystery flights. ABC News reports that Al-Jazeera released a statement from the Qatar headquarters saying "Three Al-Jazeera English journalists have been held by police in Paris while filming a report on the city's recent mystery drones. We will comment further when more information is available."

The journalists, who are said to range in age from 70 to 36, were flying a UAV in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris, according to Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.

Such flights are illegal in France, and the journalists can be held for a maximum of 24 hours under French law. France requires a licence to operate a UAV, and doing so without the license carries a fine of about $85,000 and up to one year in prison.

As to the mystery UAVs, French police say that the only real danger from the aircraft is that one might fall on a person on the ground. However, some have raised concerns about espionage, or the future weaponization of the aircraft.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.aljazeera.com