Gatwick Airport drone chaos: more than 25 sites searched by police
and live on Freeview channel 276
Officers have conducted ‘extensive’ house-to-house enquiries as they continue to find those responsible for ruining the Christmasses of countless travellers.
The drone sightings – which are not believed to be terror related – grounded hundreds of flights as the runways were closed.
‘Deliberate and sustained criminal act’
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Hide AdSpeaking today, Sussex Police Chief Constable Giles Yorke said: “Our heart goes out to the thoundands of people’s Christmasses that were disrupted by this event.
“It was a deliberate and sustained act of criminal drone activity that caused that disruption, and it was designed to disrupt airport operation.
“Globalling nothing has been seen like this before and so the situation was unprecedented.
“The capability to deal with such events nationally has been strengthened as a result of this incident.”
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Hide AdPolice officers worked more than 800 extra shifts during the disruption, the Chief Constable said.
Update on the investigation
CC Yorke said that police are carrying out a dedicated senior investigating officer with a full team are carrying out ‘thorough and comprehensive’ investigation.
He added: “We have made specific appeals for information to local and relevant communities such as drone interest groups.
“We have made extensive house to house enquiries – over 1,000 houses have been visited in the area.
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Hide Ad“There have been physical searches of over 25 sites identified as being potentially relevant to the drone sightings.”
Appeal for information
The Chief Constable reiterated the appeal for information about what happened.
He said: “If anybody does think they have any leads around this absolutely contact us or contact Crimestoppers.”
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Hide AdCrimestoppers charity are offering a £50,000 reward for information.
To contact Crimestoppers anonymously call 0800 555 111 or use the non-traceable anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Crimestoppers said the reward will only qualify if information is passed to it by either of these methods.