Two people have been arrested after allegedly conducting a “hazardous drone operation” near the airspace of the US city of Boston’s main airport, police said.
Robert Duffy, 42, and Jeremy Folcik, 32, were arrested on Long Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands, on Saturday night.
They were charged with trespassing and police said they may face further counts and fines over the drones, which were “dangerously close” to Logan International Airport.
Their arrests follow a series of drone sightings across the US north-east in recent weeks. Police have given no indication that the sightings are connected to these arrests.
Police said they identified the drone’s location and tracked the operators’ position to a decommissioned health campus on Long Island. Because of the drone’s proximity to an airport, FBI counter-terrorism agents helped the investigation.
When officers arrived on the scene, police said three people attempted to flee, two of whom – Mr Duffy and Mr Folcik – were apprehended. A drone was discovered in a backpack carried by Mr Duffy, police said.
The third suspect is believed to have fled the island in a small vessel and has not so far been found.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Duffy and Mr Folcik had legal representation. Police said they were yet to be arraigned.
US government officials have been seeking to reassure residents of the north-east that no national or public security threats have been identified in the hundreds of drone sightings.
Flying objects have been reported in states including New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts, but most of the sightings have been in New Jersey.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News on Sunday the federal government was working in “close co-ordination” with state and local authorities on the issue.
He said it was “critical” they be given the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision.
Mayorkas said the rise in drone sightings could be down to a change in federal law last year that allows the aircraft to be flown at night.
“That may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk,” he said.
He also said he knew of “no foreign involvement” in drone sightings around the US north-east.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has called for Congress to grant states more powers to tackle the drones, which forced runways at Stewart Airfield in the state to shut down for about an hour on Friday night.
She said on Sunday that federal officials were sending a drone detection system to New York.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has requested that the technology also be sent to New Jersey.
