by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:15 AM ET, Wed January 9, 2019
The drone problems in England continue as flights leaving Heathrow Airport were temporarily delayed Tuesday due to the illegal use of the flying crafts.
According to BBC.com, departures from the London airport were suspended for around an hour after employees and police officers spotted another drone flying near the facility. The sighting comes after a similar incident in December at Gatwick Airport that caused around 1,000 cancellations and impacted over 140,000 passengers.
As a result, Scotland Yard announced it was launching a full criminal investigation and the English military was brought in to help with the case. Heathrow officials said the airport was back to full operation Wednesday morning and apologized for any inconvenience to delayed passengers.
"We are carrying out extensive searches around the Heathrow area to identify any people who may be responsible for the operation of the drone," Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy told BBC. "The illegal operation of drones at an airfield is extremely dangerous."
The English government is also getting involved with the case, as the nation's Transport Secretary, Home Secretary and Defense Secretary are now all working on the matter after Gatwick reported spending almost $4 million to prevent future attacks.
Authorities also announced that officers working on the cases would be permitted to use new methods to take down and stop future incidents involving the illegal use of drones at English airports.
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