Night in cells and £310 fine for Paris tourist who buzzed Notre Dame cathedral with his drone

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Holidaymakers who are planning to fly a camera-equipped drone in Paris’ tourist zones risk spending time in jail and being slapped with a hefty fine.

An Israeli tourist found out the hard way this week when he was arrested in front of Notre Dame Cathedral while flying a drone above some of Paris’ top attractions.

In what has become a growing problem for authorities in Paris and other tourist hotspots, the 24-year-old man spent a night behind bars and was hit with a £310 fine before he was released.

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Grounded: A 24-year-old holidaymaker spent a night in jail after he was arrested for flying a drone in Paris

A police source told Agence France-Presse that the man launched the drone, equipped with a GoPro camera, above the famous Gothic church on Wednesday morning and sent it hovering over the historic Hotel-Dieu hospital and a police station.

Police located the man after they spotted the drone on a surveillance camera.

When officers arrived at the church square, the tourist told them he was not aware flying a drone in Paris is illegal and he was filming the locations for ‘private purposes’.

He’s the latest tourist to be grounded by France’s tough laws around the devices, which are becoming more common among tourists and professional and amateur videographers.

In February, police arrested a member of the French Foreign Legion for using his drone around the Eiffel Tower. That same month, police in Nancy charged a teenager who used his drone to film historic sites.

A buzz in the air: Drones are growing in popularity among tourists and professional and amateur videographers

Tourists in the US have also landed themselves in trouble for using drones to capture video of amazing landscapes.

Donald Criswell of Molalla, Oregon, was fined £625 on Thursday for violating a ban on unmanned aircraft in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

His drone buzzed bison and startled tourists gathered at a popular geyser basin, according to a park spokesman.

Hefty fine: A tourist was prosecuted after buzzing bison and startling tourists in Yellowstone National Park

It was the third prosecution in as many weeks of visitors who used the devices despite signs warning of the prohibition.

A Dutch tourist last month pleaded guilty to the violation and was ordered to pay penalties of more than £1,800 for crashing a drone into Yellowstone's largest and arguably most famous hot spring in August.

Also last month, a visitor from Germany was banned from the park for a year and sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation after admitting to flying a drone in July that crashed into Yellowstone Lake. 

Problem tourists: Three Yellowstone tourists have been prosecuted in as many weeks for using drones