Doha: Polish authorities said they had intercepted a surveillance drone flying close to the country’s airspace over international waters in the Baltic Sea. The Polish military said fighter jets were scrambled to identify the unmanned aircraft, visually confirming its presence before escorting it away from Poland’s area of responsibility.

According to Qatar News Agency, as a precaution, part of the airspace over the Podlaskie region in north-eastern Poland, near the border with Belarus, was temporarily closed to civilian flights. Poland’s National Security Bureau reported that dozens of objects had recently entered Polish airspace from the Belarusian side, with four identified as balloons possibly linked to smuggling activities.

Officials noted that the timing during the holiday season, combined with increased Russian military activity in the Baltic and similar incidents reported in Lithuania, could point to a provocation rather than a routine smuggling operation.