Boston Police say 42-year-old Robert Duffy of Charlestown and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik of Bridgewater are facing trespassing charges.
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Two men were arrested on Saturday night in Boston after a hazardous drone operation near Logan Airport’s airspace.
Boston police say 42-year-old Robert Duffy, of Charlestown, and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik, of Bridgewater, are facing trespassing charges. Additional fines or charges are potentially forthcoming, police added, pending the outcoming of the ongoing investigation.
According to police, an officer detected a drone operating dangerously close to Logan International Airport around 4:30 p.m. and was able to identify the operators' position on Long Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands.
Due to the "serious risks posed by the drone's proximity" to the airport's airspace, Boston police coordinated with Homeland Security, Massachusetts State Police, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Logan Airport Air Traffic Control to address the situation.
Members of the Boston Police Harbor Patrol Unit were dispatched to Long Island where they found three people inside the decommissioned Long Island Health Campus, police said. As law enforcement attempted to make contact, the suspects allegedly fled on foot.
Two of the three suspects were apprehended just before 10:30 p.m., and they were later identified as Duffy and Focik. According to police, a drone was discovered inside a backpack that Duffy was carrying.
Local and state police conducted a continued search for the third suspect, who is believed to have fled the island in a small vessel.
Duffy and Folcik are scheduled to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court. It wasn't immediately clear if they had obtained attorneys.
Boston police are reminding recreational drone operators of the importance of adhering to Federal Aviation Administration safety guidelines.
Operators are prohibited from flying drones over people or vehicles and must be aware of airspace restrictions, police said. Even small drones pose significant risks, including the potential for catastrophic damage to airplanes and helicopters. Near-collisions can cause pilots to veer off course, putting lives and property at risk.
Aviation expert Seth Miller tells NBC10 Boston that this incident was indeed very dangerous and very illegal.
"Please don’t do that. Very high risk for the airplanes flying in,” Miller said.
Duffy and Folcik's arrests come as dozens of people across Massachusetts and New Hampshire post videos of objects resembling the drones that have been flying around New Jersey in recent weeks.
“Could those be the types of things that other people are seeing?” Miller asked.
Colleen Ross says she saw something hovering outside her home in Keene, New Hampshire, for hours last night.
“I did get a little scared because there are no answers out there as to what, where and why this is happening,” Ross said. "And sure enough I went and grabbed my binoculars and it was red and green flashing that typical one you’ve kind of been seeing.”
Miller says the Logan arrests could be one example of a drone sighting that has a simple explanation.
“They’ve got the signal lights on them the red and green and white lights are sort of FAA standards so if they’re aliens they managed to learn FAA law pretty quickly,” Miller said.
But not everyone is convinced.
“Having seen it with my own naked eyes last night, I personally as a US citizen, I want some answers,” Ross said.
The governor and state police say they are aware of the drone sightings and are monitoring them closely.
