Man arrested for flying drone close to Indo-Bangla border during Mamata's visit

The drone was reportedly spotted by locals and police officials immediately reached the spot and confiscated it.

Photo courtesy: 24 Ghanta

Kolkata: Police apprehended a man for flying a drone close to the India-Bangladesh border at a time when West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was touring here.

A red drone was noticed by security personnel in the sky around the time when Mamata was scheduled to hold a meeting. Local police officials immediately confiscated the drone and apprehended a man believed to be controlling it. While it is not yet clear if the drone was from across the border and to what exact purpose it was being flown for, the man apprehended is being questioned to get the details. 

Mamata is on a four-day tour of North Bengal which began from Monday and is scheduled to hold an administrative meeting on Tuesday. Another two administrative meeting will take place in the next two days.

Security - especially in sensitive areas - has been tightened and security officials are leaving no stone unturned to ensure law and order is not compromised. Therefore, the drone incident is being looked at extremely seriously. 

Interestingly, flying of drones without permission is illegal in the country but selling these machines is not. Drones are often used during big events - both public and private, but only when requisite permissions are taken. In border areas specifically though, getting permission to use drones is extremely difficult due to these being extremely sensitive areas.