Federal law enforcement arrested a Chinese foreign national on Monday as he prepared to fly back to the People’s Republic of China after being caught allegedly flying a drone illegally over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California.
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Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., was at the San Francisco International Airport preparing to board a flight to China when law enforcement arrested him.
Zhou allegedly triggered the Vandenberg Base’s drone detection system on November 30 by flying a drone over the base and taking pictures.
Most commercially available drone technology in the U.S. is manufactured by Chinese-based companies and comes pre-installed with software that blocks operation in certain restricted areas, such as around jails or airports.
According to The Telegraph, which had the opportunity to review the criminal complaint against Zhou, he allegedly flew the drone over the base for a full 59 minutes and photographed various sensitive sites, including SpaceX launch pads.
The United States Attorney’s Office revealed that the drone was flying at nearly a mile of altitude and that the base was able to trace its flight path back to its origin at the nearby public Ocean Park.
Base security went to Ocean Park, where they found Zhou and an unnamed accomplice, and discovered that Zhou was allegedly concealing the same drone that had flown over the base under his coat.
Law enforcement procured a search warrant and found photos of the base stored on the drone, as well as suspicious activity on Zhou’s phone.
They found that Zhou had recently searched Google for “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and texted an unnamed person about hacking the drone to make it capable of flying higher.
Zhou most recently entered the U.S. in February, and his unnamed alleged accomplice entered on November 26, just days before the drone incident.
Zhou was charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace, and faces a maximum penalty of just four years in prison.
He has not been charged with any espionage activity, and authorities did not speculate on his motive.
