National Post (National Edition)
POLICE SAY THEY ARE CLOSING IN ON THE DRONE OPERATOR RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHUTDOWN OF GATWICK AIRPORT.
Police compile shortlist amid airport chaos
LONDON • Police suggested the net was closing in on the drone attacker causing chaos at Gatwick, Britain’s second busiest airport, as they confirmed they were investigating “persons of interest.”
Detectives are understood to have drawn up a shortlist of potential culprits after the pilot gave vital clues away by audaciously flying the drone right up to the air traffic control tower.
In a move known as “buzzing the tower,” it emerged the perpetrator had taunted airport staff by circling the drone around the building and flashing its lights, an industry source told The Daily Telegraph.
A detailed description of the drone, provided by witnesses, meant experts were able to determine the make and model of the machine, which is only available from a handful of locations in the U.K.
It is thought the attacker could be a lone-wolf ecowarrior, but Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, and senior detectives also said they had not ruled out that a foreign state could be behind the attack.
Steve Barry, assistant chief constable of Sussex police, said: “We do have persons of interest and we are working through those with our best teams, our best investigators, and there’s a huge amount of intelligence that we’re trawling through.”
Police are working on the theory that more than one drone was being used in order to confuse the authorities, which was making it difficult for the police to find the location of the handler.
Speaking outside the beleaguered airport, Barry said measures to tackle the threat include “technical, sophisticated options to detect and mitigate drone incursions, all the way down to less sophisticated options — even shotguns would be available to officers should the opportunity present itself.”
Police are working on the assumption the drone had been modified, with the “intent of causing disruption,” and have been looking through CCTV to identify the make and model.
Sussex police said there were almost 50 drone sightings at the airport between 9.07 p.m. Wednesday and 4.25 p.m. Thursday, though some may have been duplicates. Gatwick reopened at 6 a.m. Friday and about two hours later online information boards showed that just three flights had landed, two from Dublin and one from Bordeaux, while 25 had departed, all of them shorthaul services.
But about 5 p.m., there was another report of a drone sighting and the airport shut down for another 80 minutes.
“The sighting was confirmed, so there definitely was a drone in the area,” an airport spokeswoman said by telephone. Military measures “have given us the reassurance we need that it is safe to reopen.”
With the military now on site to head off any drone activity, RAF troops quickly took up position on the roof of the south terminal in response to the scare, The Telegraph understands.
The latest interruption came as authorities attempted to get operations back to normal after a pair of drones disrupted travel for more than 120,000 people over the course of 36 hours.
When Gatwick restarted earlier Friday, authorities offered no guarantees that the mystery drones were gone, though steps had been taken to make the airport safe.
Grayling told the BBC anti-drone technologies had been deployed at Gatwick.
“This is an unprecedented event. There’s not been anything like this anywhere in the world,” he said.
Grayling said additional “military capabilities” and a range of security measures had been put in place overnight but would not elaborate. He said the airport was considered safe for flights Friday even though the drone operator or operators had not been apprehended.
The drone flights were “highly targeted” and designed to deliver maximum disruption in the days before Christmas, according to Gatwick chief executive officer Stewart Wingate.
The hundreds of travellers who were stuck overnight at Gatwick by Thursday’s closure described freezing conditions as they slept on benches or the airport floor.
Many complained they weren’t being kept informed about rerouted flights.
British officials, meanwhile, were debating whether shooting down a drone was an available “tactical option” due to concerns that such an action could inadvertently hurt people on the ground.
“Shooting the drone out of the sky is probably one of the least effective options” available, said Barry.
Andrew Duffield, 30, an impact investor from London, told The Telegraph he was due on a flight to Canada Friday evening to stay with his parents for Christmas.
“This is the second time that my plans have been altered,” he said.
“I was supposed to fly out at 9 a.m. this morning and now it looks like I won’t be flying out on the 9 p.m.
“It’s horrendous — hundreds of thousands of people’s lives are being affected.”