Denmark says ‘professional actor’ behind drone flights over airports

AFP | Copenhagen

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Denmark said yesterday a “professional actor” was behind drone flights over multiple airports this week in a “hybrid attack” designed to create fear, adding it would acquire new capabilities to detect and down drones.

Police said early yesterday that drones flew over several airports across the country and caused one of them to close for hours, after a similar incident early this week prompted Copenhagen airport to shut down.

“There can be no doubt that everything points to this being the work of a professional actor when we are talking about such a systematic operation in so many locations at virtually the same time,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told a press conference.

He termed it a “hybrid attack” but underscored there was “no direct military threat” to Denmark.

The drone flights follow similar incidents in Poland and Romania and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets, which have raised tensions in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said Denmark would acquire new enhanced capabilities to “detect” and to “neutralise drones”.

“The aim of this type of hybrid attack is to spread fear, create division and frighten us,” Hummelgaard said.

He said Copenhagen was currently “not ruling out anything in terms of who is behind this.”

NATO member Denmark is set to host next week’s European Union summit in Copenhagen, which will be attended by heads of state and government.

Drones were spotted on Wednesday and early yesterday at airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own, police said.

Aalborg airport, located in northern Denmark and one of the country’s biggest after Copenhagen, was shut down before reopening several hours later.

“It was not possible to take down the drones, which flew over a very large area over a couple of hours,” North Jutland chief police inspector Jesper Bojgaard Madsen said about the incident in Aalborg.

“At this time, we have not apprehended the drone operators either,” he added in a statement.

South Jutland police said they had “received several reports of drone activity at the airports in Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup”, late Wednesday evening.