MILAN (Reuters) – Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible espionage and terrorism after a drone flew several times over an EU research centre in northwestern Italy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
The European Joint Research Center (JRC) in the town of Ispra, on Lake Maggiore, reported five flyovers in March by a commercial drone, which was believed to be of Russian manufacture judging from the images, the sources said.
Flights over the JRC, which opened in 1960 as a nuclear research site, are not allowed.
As a result, the anti-terrorism department of the Milan public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into military or political espionage for terrorist purposes, the source added.
The JRC website says the Ispra centre is the European Commission’s third largest research campus after those in Brussels and Luxembourg, dealing with numerous issues, including nuclear security, space, sustainable resources, migration and transport.
There was no immediate comment from the European Commission.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Crispian Balmer and Ros Russell)
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