Cambodia frees 2 Chinese tourists who flew drone over Royal Palace

Cambodian police on Sunday released two Chinese men, who were arrested on Saturday for flying a remote-controlled miniature aircraft over the Royal Palace here.

The two Chinese tourists are Peng Zheliang, 25, from Hunan province and Wang Minglei, 24, from Jiangsu province. They entered Cambodia in late June and will fly back to China Sunday night.

"Our police decided to free them this (Sunday) afternoon after we questioned them and concluded that they had no any bad purposes in flying their drone into the Royal Palace," Chhay Sinarith, director of the Interior Ministry's Internal Security Department told Xinhua over telephone. "They were unaware of the ban on drones in the city."

He said the two men were made to sign a contract to promise not to do it again.

Pok Sothy, chief of the Royal Palace Protection Unit, said that the two men flew a camera-toting drone into the Royal Palace and were arrested by the Royal Palace protection police at 6:40am ( local time) on Saturday.

Phnom Penh City Hall has banned flying drones without a permit since Feb. 16 after a German male-tourist flew his camera-toting drone over the Royal Palace. He was released without any charge on the same day.

On June 23, two male foreign filmmakers, a French and an American, were arrested after their drone was seen filming in the skies close to Prime Minister Hun Sen's house near the Independence Monument. Police freed them after deciding that they posed no threat to security.