SINGAPORE: A 21-year-old man was charged on Wednesday (Oct 2) with flying a drone during the National Day Parade in a special event area where no such activities were allowed.

Singaporean Tan Jin Kang was charged with one count of flying a DJI Mavic 2 zoom drone along Raffles Avenue in front of the Singapore Flyer at about 7.55pm on Aug 9 this year.



The drone is said to have flown up to 10.8m high for about 45 seconds, the court heard.

The National Day Parade 2019 was held at the Padang this year and was declared an enhanced security special event, during which police imposed security restrictions in the area around the Padang, including Raffles Avenue.

According to a police statement, officers spotted the drone flying along Raffles Avenue that day and detained Tan after tracking him, and seized his drone.

It is an offence to fly an unmanned aerial vehicle in a special event area without a valid permit.



Tan intends to plead guilty and is set to return to court to do so on Oct 30.

For flying a drone in the special event area, he could be jailed for up to a year, fined a maximum of S$20,000, or both.