Police have identified “persons of interest” in the drone debacle that forced the United Kingdom’s Gatwick Airport to close for nearly 36 hours, according to reports.
Speaking at a press conference Friday, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry was mum on other details but said police believe there is more than one device at play, the Guardian reported.
“In terms of motivation there is a whole spectrum of possibilities, from the really high-end criminal behavior all the way down to just individuals trying to be malicious,” he told a crowd of reporters.
Barry said authorities are prepared to respond to any further drone sightings with “technical, sophisticated options to detect and mitigate drone incursions, all the way down to less sophisticated options” — and that “even shotguns would be available to officers should the opportunity present itself.”
The last drone was spotted at 10 p.m. Thursday, a day after the sightings first began.
The rogue devices forced Gatwick, the UK’s second-busiest airport behind London Heathrow, to shut down its only runway, stranding tens of thousands of passengers during peak travel time ahead of Christmas.
The airport has since been reopened but is dealing with residual delays.
“Gatwick’s runway is now available and aircraft are arriving and departing. There are knock-on delays and cancellations to flights and we strongly recommend that you check the status of your flight with your airline before setting out for the airport today,” Gatwick tweeted Friday morning.
The airport said it was putting in place “additional mitigating measures” by the police and military to resume flights.
At least 100 of the 753 scheduled flights on Friday were canceled.