An Israeli tourist was arrested in front of Notre Dame Cathedral while flying a drone above some of Paris’ top attractions. In what has become a growing problem for authorities in Paris and other tourist hotspots, the 24-year-old man spent a night behind bars and was hit with a £310 fine before he was released.
A police source told Agence France-Presse that the man launched the drone, equipped with a GoPro camera, above the famous Gothic church on Wednesday morning and sent it hovering over the historic Hotel-Dieu hospital and a police station.
Police located the man after they spotted the drone on a surveillance camera.
When officers arrived at the church square, the tourist told them he was not aware flying a drone in Paris is illegal and he was filming the locations for ‘private purposes’.
He’s the latest tourist to be grounded by France’s tough laws around the devices, which are becoming more common among tourists and professional and amateur videographers.
In February, police arrested a member of the French Foreign Legion for using his drone around the Eiffel Tower. That same month, police in Nancy charged a teenager who used his drone to film historic sites.