Police charge drone pilot for photographing Air Force airport
A shopping mall’s mechanic accused of flying a drone in the vicinity of the Air Force airport in Bangkok’s Don Muang district and publishing the footage on social media, claimed he merely wanted to record the view – not the airport.
Jatupol Phodee, 37, also claimed to have no knowledge about the Thai authority’s ban on flying drones within a nine-kilometre radius of an airport.
Reporting himself to police on Thursday, Jatupol failed to convince police that he merely wanted to try out the Bt8,000 drone he bought from an online shop and take a picture of the view.
Police said that when Jatupol flew the drone in August, he was deliberately using a wider angle that would capture shots of the airport.
Officers have charged him with violating the Act on Certain Offences Against Air Navigation 2015 by flying a drone without permission. He is also charged with breaking the Confidential Information Act by photographing a protected location without permission.
He was taken into custody to appear before a court for further legal action.
