A couple arrested in connection with drone sightings that grounded hundreds of pre-Christmas flights at Gatwick have been released without charge.
And in a bizarre twist, police suggested there was a possibility that there may not have been any “genuine drone activity” in the first place, despite the devices appearing to have been filmed and a damaged drone discovered on the airport perimeter.
The 47-year-old man and 54-year-old woman, from Crawley, West Sussex, were arrested on Friday night on suspicion of “the criminal use of drones”.
Flights were suspended for more than 36 hours when the first device was spotted close to the runway on Wednesday night.
Sussex Police said the pair were no longer suspects.
Detective chief superintendent Jason Tingley said: “Both people have fully co-operated with our inquiries and I am satisfied that they are no longer suspects in the drone incidents at Gatwick.
“Our inquiry continues at a pace to locate those responsible for the drone incursions, and we continue to actively follow lines of investigation.”
He was later reported as saying there may not have been drones involved because the police were relying on human sightings.
He then clarified: “We are interviewing those who have reported these sightings, are carrying out extensive house-to-house inquiries and carrying out a forensic examination of a damaged drone found near the perimeter of the airport near Horley, which is close to the last reported sighting.”
A £50,000 reward has been offered by the airport through Crimestoppers for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for disrupting flights.
About 1,000 aircraft were either cancelled or diverted, affecting about 140,000 passengers, during three days of disruption.
Gatwick Stewart Wingate estimated that the chaos has cost the airport and airlines about £20 million.
“From our perspective, though, the bigger cost is the impact it has had on our passengers,” he told The Sunday Times.
Only six out of 757 scheduled flights were cancelled on Saturday day.
The airport said it was operating as normal on Sunday but there had been “some knock on effect”.
Passengers were still being urged to check with their airline for the latest information.
Authorities regained control over the airfield early on Friday after the army deployed unidentified military technology, the BBC reported.
The Israeli-developed Drone Dome system, which can jam communications between the drone and its operator, is believed to have been used.
But experts have said it does not enable the person responsible to be tracked down and captured.