Early on the morning of February 24th between the hours of 1:00am and 6:00am, five un-manned and unauthorized drones were spotted hovering over various notable sites within France’s capital. According to Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, drones were reportedly spotted above the Place de la Concorde, the US Embassy, La Bastille, the military museum of Les Invalides, and the Eiffel Tower.
Though French authorities arrived on-scene at the indicated locations quickly after the drone-sightings were reported, they were nevertheless unsuccessful at locating the individuals controlling the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s). A team of ten members from France’s gendarmerie is currently focusing their full efforts on unveiling who was flying the unauthorized drones as well as their motivation for doing so.
The recent UAV sightings are especially concerning for French authorities, given that Paris is still under a maximum security alert following the Charlie Hebdo attacks which killed 17 innocent French civilians seven weeks ago. Many officials say that the drone sightings are simply too coincidental, seeing as though each occurred at approximately the same time over five of Paris’ most notable landmarks.
This would not be the first time France has dealt with a case of unauthorized drones invading private airspace. There are upwards of 15 reported cases of UAV’s flying over major French installations, including multiple Électricité de France (EDF) nuclear power plants and the Palais de l'Élysée, President Hollande’s official residency. The drones spotted in the Parisian skies early this morning were of small to medium size and not military-class devices, thus they were incapable of doing significant physical damage to any of the famous landmarks. However, both French authorities and the public are concerned about the possibility of terrorists attaching explosives or other destructive elements directly to the drones.
Currently, investigators are having difficulty deciphering whether the early morning activity over some of Paris’ most iconic landmarks was a coordinated and malicious threat, or simply the result of a few curious drone enthusiasts. Seeing as though drones are relatively affordable (more-sophisticated models with pre-programming technology are between $440-500), the likelihood of the Paris sightings being a result of public misapplication is still possible. However, after the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and a threat made on Sunday by the al-Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabaab to target two shopping malls in Paris, authorities are taking the recent UAV sightings very seriously.
