Two men were arrested Saturday night for flying their drone dangerously close to Boston’s Logan International Airport’s airspace.
Boston police apprehended the pair on one of the Boston Harbor Islands around 10:20 p.m., according to the Boston Police Department. The two captured men were identified as 42-year-old Robert Duffy and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik, who are both Massachusetts residents.
A third suspect is believed to have fled the island “in a small vessel,” according to Boston police.
Boston cops first detected the drone near Logan around 4:30 p.m. the same day. They were able to use advanced technology to track the drone’s location, altitude, and flight history.
The tech even determined the operators’ position, which pinged on Long Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands.
In the wake of recent drone anomalies that have cropped up across the Northeast, the investigation into the Boston drone was an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission, and Logan Airport Air Traffic Control were all rallied to deal with the drone.
“Even small drones pose significant risks, including the potential for catastrophic damage to airplanes and helicopters. Near-collisions can cause pilots to veer off course, putting lives and property at risk,” Boston police said in a statement.
While the slew of other authorities were coordinating, members of the Boston Police Harbor Patrol Unit headed over to the decommissioned Long Island Health Campus, an old medical school that shuttered its doors in 2014.
They caught Duffy and Folcik, who face charges for trespassing, but additional fines and charges could come later in the investigation. A drone was also recovered from Duffy’s backpack during the investigation, according to police.
Drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia with no answers as to their purpose or point of origin.
Nearly 1,000 drone sightings were reported in New Jersey in just one month. The Garden State has been a hotspot for drones, and the entire debacle over the last week started when the aircraft were spotted hovering over Monmouth County.
Authorities are attempting to fight back, but their efforts have largely been in vain without any indication of the source. It was originally suspected that they were originating from a “mothership” off the East Coast, which the White House has denied.
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