A 50-year-old Russian man has been detained in Arctic Norway with two drones after numerous drone sightings were reported near Norwegian offshore oil and gas platforms, ABC News reports.
The Russian man, who was not identified, was returning to Russia when he was detained by authorities on Tuesday. He was ordered to be held in custody for two weeks after he confessed to flying a drone in Norway.
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Customs officers found two drones and several electronic storage devices in his luggage during a routine check at the Storskog border crossing.
Under Norwegian law, it is prohibited for aircraft operated by Russian companies or citizens “to land on, take off from or fly over Norwegian territory”.
Prosecutors have seized the drones, along with 4 terabytes of stored images and files, with parts of them encrypted. The material will be examined to see the scope and content of the flying that took place over Norwegian territory.
Norwegian Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said it was “too early to draw conclusions”.
“It is known that we have an intelligence threat against us, which has been reinforced by what is happening in Europe,” she told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
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