Tokyo Is Using Good Guys With Drones to Catch Bad Guys With Drones

Benjamin SnyderBy Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor

Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department just created a unique way to combat potential terrorism via drones: with a net.

The move comes after a drone carrying radioactive soil landed on the roof of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office in April, according to The Asahi Shimbun.

“Terrorist attacks using drones carrying explosives are a possibility,” a senior member of the police department’s Security Bureau said in an interview with the publication. “We hope to defend the nation’s functions with the worst-case scenario in mind.”

Just one net-wielding drone will be used at first around the city to catch potentially predatory unmanned aerial devices, according to The Asahi Shimbun. It will patrol the Imperial Palace and the prime minister’s office.

On December 10, the country’s aviation law added airspace restrictions since drone use by the public has become more prevalent.