Chinese national arrested for illegally photographing California aerospace base with drone

Federal authorities detained a Chinese national residing in the country before he took a flight to China for allegedly illegally photographing an aerospace base located in Santa Barbara County, Calif., with a drone.

As reported through a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Yinpiao Zhou, 39, took photographs from the air with an unregistered drone of the Vandenberg space base on Nov. 30.

Zhou is being investigated for the offenses of "failure to register an aircraft, failure to provide transportation and violation of national defense airspace." He has already made his first appearance before a U.S. District Court in San Francisco and pleaded not guilty.

"This defendant allegedly flew over a military base with a drone and took photos of the base's layout, which is against the law. Our nation's security is of paramount importance, and my office will continue to promote the safety of our nation's military personnel and facilities," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said.

Zhou's arrest occurred Monday as the defendant was about to take a flight from San Francisco International Airport bound for China.

Initial investigations revealed that Zhou had been searching for information on the internet with his cell phone about the Vandenberg space base about a month prior. In addition, investigators found that the defendant had been exchanging messages with another person about how to manipulate a drone to make it fly higher.