KOCHI: After coming across a video of aerial shots of Nedumbassery airport on Instagram recorded clandestinely using drone in a no-fly zone, police registered a case against a popular vlogger on Wednesday. Similar incidents of flying drones for recording videos in no-fly zones are becoming frequent in Kochi as the city is turning a favourite destination for pre-wedding shooting in recent years.
The case was registered against Arjun Sab S, 24, of Edacheri, Kozhikode. Arjun is a video content creator and a drone pilot. Arjun posted aerial videos taken using a drone on his Instagram page named mallu_dora.
“Recently, we received information about an Instagram video in which aerial shoots of Nedumbassery airport were shown. Later, we checked the Instagram account and found the video in which there was aerial footage of the airport, and aircraft could be seen it. Then we checked with airport authorities whether any person was granted permission to fly drones in the area. The authorities informed us that no such permission was granted,” said an officer at Nedumbassery police station.
Nedumbassery airport is a no-fly zone for drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. Later, police tracked down the Instagram ID and summoned Arjun for interrogation. “He admitted to flying a drone without permission. The drone was used on August 26, afternoon. We have recovered the drone and the recorded footage. A case has been charged against Arjun. He was later released on bail,” a police officer said.
Similar cases have been frequent in Kochi where vloggers and videographers without proper awareness fly drones close to high-security areas including Naval Base, Cochin Shipyard, Kochi Port, Container Terminal, Kerala High Court and LNG Terminal.