Norway's domestic security agency on Wednesday took over investigations of drone sightings near key infrastructure sites hours after the airport in the country's second-largest city briefly closed due to area residents spotting at least one drone nearby.

Bergen Airport, which is near Norway's main naval base, shut down at around 6:30 a.m. when the area's air space was closed and reopened 2½ hours later. Bergen police spokesman Ørjan Djuvik said several drone sightings were reported near the airport.

'There can also be observations that could be other phenomenon, for instance weather,” Djuvik said. 'We are sure that there is at least one.”
North of Bergen, a drone was reported near the small, domestic Foerde airport, which also closed temporarily, Norwegian news agency NTB said.

Numerous drone sightings have been reported near offshore oil and gas platforms and other Norwegian infrastructure in recent months, Hedvig Moe, deputy chief of the Norwegian Police Security Service, said.

'We believe (the drone flights are) carried out in a way that makes it difficult to find out who is really behind it,” but Norwegian authorities suspect Russian involvement in operating unmanned aerial vehicles that 'can be used for espionage or simply to create fear,” Moe said.

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