Mysterious drones spotted multiple times in the sky of New Jersey near New York are worrying residents, especially since the authorities, including the White House, have no explanation.
This has been going on for weeks. Large drones with their distinctive flashing lights and rotors have been reported by residents in multiple locations across New Jersey. Images filmed on mobile phones are circulating on social networks accompanied by sometimes alarmist comments.
“It’s quite worrying that they were seen… without explanation. It can be alarming,” says Sam Lugo, 23, who works at a gym in Bergen County and calls the case “crazy.”
On X, Gus Seretis says he “saw them every night since Thanksgiving” on November 28. “They are smaller than my Jeep. “They hover at about tree height or a little higher,” he said, describing the planes as planes too small for a pilot and…promising to “shoot one of them if it goes down quite low.
Residents are calling for action to be taken.
Chris Smith, elected to Congress from New Jersey, wrote to the Pentagon, the nerve center of the American army, to demand answers. “There have been numerous cases of drones flying over New Jersey, including near sensitive sites,” he said in his letter to Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.
Mr Smith said he had received reports that more than a dozen drones had pursued a coastguard boat last weekend. He said he himself spent “hours” monitoring the sky with the Ocean County sheriff, where drones had been seen.
The affair grew and even the White House was alerted.
“The president (Joe Biden) knows about it. We are following this closely (…) The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are following this matter very closely,” said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday, stressing that the “two agencies “are working closely with people on the ground, trying to clarify this.”
The Pentagon has clarified that these flying objects are not “American military drones”.
“Our first analysis is that this is not a foreign adversary or a foreign entity,” said Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman. Ms. Singh also rejected Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s claims on Fox News that Tehran was behind the drone flight. “There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there is no so-called mothership launching drones toward the United States,” she stressed.
Joseph Boutros, 21, of Bergen County, said drones are “not a concern as long as they don’t carry weapons.”
Sam Lugo prefers to smile: “I don’t want to get kidnapped or anything like that.”