Singapore court charged two men on Friday for flying drones without permission near an airbase and both of them are the first individuals to be charged with this particular offence in the Republic.
One of the alleged accused, 37-year-old Ed Chen Junyuan was charged for operating a 0.357kg DBPOWER FPV drone at an open field at around 9 pm on Jun 26 near Block 128C Punggol Field Walk.
Reports stated that the first suspect was flying the drone for recreation, but he did not have a valid Class 2 activity permit for flying it. Chen was charged with one count under the Air Navigation Order of flying a small unmanned drone without a permit.
The other male accused, who is Chen's friend, Tay Miow Seng, aged 40, is accused of flying a 0.43kg Bumblebee wrapped DJI drone at the same place as Chen, almost at the same time. Tay also faced the same charge as Chen.
Josephus Tan from Invictus Law Corporation is currently representing both the alleged accused and they will return to the court on August 2.
If the court finds Chen and Tay guilty then both the convicts will face a maximum fine of S$20,000.
Recently a company, Singapore branch of civil engineering company LT Sambo Co was charged for flying drones without a permit along Marine Parade Road and the authority is set to plead guilty next Monday, July 8.
