Three Al-Jazeera journalists have been arrested for the alleged illegal flying of a drone in Paris after being spotted by police in the Bois de Boulogne area.
A spokesman for prosecutors said there was “no relationship for the moment” between the arrests and mysterious drone flights over the city at night.
Al-Jazeera said the journalists had been “filming a report on the city’s recent mystery drones”.
According to Europe 1, the first flight was spotted from 23:30 to 00:30, in the North of Paris between Gare de l’Est station and Porte de Saint-Ouen, in the 10th and 18th districts of Paris. The second was spotted at 23 h 50, at the level of the Poissonnière metro station, the Opera Garnier and the Bourse Square, between the 9th and 2nd arrondissements.
Then, further south, shortly before one o’clock in the morning the third flight took place from the National Assembly to the Eiffel Tower in the 7th. An hour later, a drone was seen flying over the Charles de Gaulle bridge, in south-eastern Paris. A last flight took placein the 14th arrondissement, towards two o’clock in the morning near the Montparnasse Tower.
Flying drones over Paris without a licence is banned by law. The offence carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a €75,000 (£55,000; $85,000) fine.
A judicial source told AFP news agency of the three people arrested: “The first was piloting the drone, the second was filming and the third was watching.”
The names and nationalities of the journalists have not been released. Al-Jazeera is a Qatar-based satellite TV channel.
An al-Jazeera spokesman said: “Three al-Jazeera English journalists have been held by police in Paris while filming a report on the city’s recent mystery drones. We will comment further when more information is available.”