An Albanian citizen has been detained by French authorities after flying a small civilian plane over the nuclear power plant of Penly, in the Seine-Maritime region, at an altitude lower than the limit allowed for sensitive areas. The case is also being investigated for possible espionage, reports Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD).
According to French media, the incident happened on Saturday afternoon. The plane was flying at about 3,700 feet (nearly 1,200 meters), but the pilot lowered the altitude to 3,500 feet, entering below the minimum limit allowed for flights over a strategic object.
Shortly after the alert, France’s Air and Space Forces raised a military vehicle that escorted the plane to Albert airport, where the pilot was arrested as soon as he landed on the runway.
According to the JDD, the detainee has been identified as Ermal Beqiri, an Albanian citizen, previously known by the French and Albanian authorities for offenses related to financial fraud, organized group fraud and illegal activities in the field of hacking. For him, according to the same source, there is also a search warrant issued by the Albanian authorities.
Ermal Beqiri is wanted by SPAK for the ANA affair. The businessman Beqiri has been wanted for several months, as he is suspected of being the head of a structured criminal group that manipulated tenders worth millions of euros of the National Agency of the Information Society.
Beqiraj owns the company “Soft & Solution” and is accused of benefiting from tenders over 1.1 million euros after the threats that the right wing of Ergys Agasi made to a company involved in one of the many competitions.
During the physical search, police found three Apple AirTag tracking devices on his clothing. According to sources cited by JDD, this detail has led investigators to consider the possibility that the pilot acted under pressure or at the behest of another person, although this remains a line of inquiry and has not been confirmed by authorities.
In his testimony, the Albanian stated that he had mistaken the height of the flight and that at the time of passing over the switchboard he was talking on the phone with his mother. However, investigators have described his version as unclear, while doubts have also been raised about the flight route, which passed from Albert to Calais, then over Brittany and ended up over the Penly nuclear power plant.
For violating the ban on flying over the nuclear power plant, the Albanian was fined 7,000 euros. He was then handed over to the French Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO), while he is expected to be extradited to Albania.
The Penly nuclear power plant is considered one of France’s strategic facilities and is also where the new EPR-2 reactors are being built, a project of particular importance to the French energy sector.
