Drone incidents at U.S. military sites sees Brampton man deported back to Canada

A Brampton man is being kicked out of the U.S. after he pleaded guilty to illegally using a drone to take photos of classified U.S. defence facilities.

A judge in Florida put Xiao Guang Pan, 71, of Brampton, on probation for 12 months and ordered him out of the country for violating American espionage regulations.

Pan was arrested in February of this year for incidents that took place in January at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.

According to United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg at that time, on three separate occasions, aerial photographs were taken by an unmanned aircraft of a space launch complex, a payload processing facility, a submarine wharf, and munitions bunkers.

Pan had told law enforcement officials that he was photographing nature, but data from the drone showed that almost 2,000 pictures were taken of military equipment, launch facilities, security areas and munition storage facilities.

Once deported, Pan is banned from entering the U.S. without consent from the Secretary of Homeland Security. His drone equipment was also confiscated.

It is not clear if the deportation order has already been carried out.