London, Dec. 22 (PTI): Two people have been arrested over the "criminal use" of drones that brought London's Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest, to a standstill, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded ahead of the busy holiday season.
Sussex Police confirmed that they arrested a man and woman on Friday night after raids were carried out in the area around Gatwick Airport in the south of England.
As part of our ongoing investigations into the criminal use of drones which has severely disrupted flights in and out of Gatwick Airport, Sussex Police made two arrests, Police Superintendent James Collis of Sussex Police said.
"Our investigations are still ongoing, and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones by deploying a range of tactics, he said.
He called on the public around the airport to remain vigilant and contact the police if they believe they have any information that can help with their investigations.
According to some reports, a cyclist was spotted by a member of the public hurriedly packing away two drones into a bag before the arrests were made.
Gatwick Airport said on Saturday that it was open for flights but urged passengers to check with their airline before travelling.
"Our runway is open and we aim to run a full schedule 757 flights scheduled today, carrying 124,484 passengers, a spokesperson said.
"Safety is Gatwick's top priority and we are grateful for passengers' continued patience as we work to get them to their final destination in time for Christmas, the spokesperson said.
The airport was plunged into chaos on Wednesday night when drones spotted hovering near the runway forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at one of the busiest travel periods of the year in the lead up to Christmas next week.
Military experts were deployed to assist the local police in their search for the operators of the drones, which reappeared near the airport every time the authorities tried to reopen the runways.
Environmental activists are believed to be responsible for the disruption and could face a maximum of five years behind bars for criminal use of drones.
The UK government has denied Opposition accusations that it had been slow to combat the threat from drones, and had delayed plans to introduce laws to regulate their use.
