On Wednesday, a drone flew above Gilze-Rijen airbase for several minutes. Air traffic controllers spotted the drone from the tower. The marechaussee arrived at the scene but found no further traces of the drone.

A spokesman for the marechaussee confirms the drone’s observation to NU.nl, following previous coverage of the Volkskrant. Air traffic control made a report of “potential espionage,” after which the military arrived at the scene.

It is not known who was driving the drone and where it came from. When the marechaussee arrived, the drone was already gone. The incident happened at the beginning of the evening.

“The drone has been flying above the base for a few minutes. Then the air traffic controllers kept sight of it,” the spokesman says. “We tried to figure out the route, but that didn’t lead to results in the end.”

Last week, several drones were also seen above Belgian air bases and airports, including Zaventem near Brussels. The Belgian defence minister has expressed suspicions of spying from Russia.

The military says it has no concrete indications that it is also about espionage in the Netherlands. The spokesman said it saw few similarities with Belgium. “It doesn’t look like the scenes mentioned there, like flying in formation or the size of the drone.”

Gilze-Rijen is a helicopter base of the Air Force. There are Apache combat helicopters, and Chinooks and Cougars, which are both transport helicopters.