The White House is placed in lock-down after a two-foot-wide commercial "quad copter" is picked up by the Secret Service. A man has come forward to say he accidentally flew a drone into the grounds of the White House, sparking a major security alert.An agent on duty at the White House said he saw and heard a two-foot-wide commercial "quad copter" fly at a low altitude into the heavily guarded complex before crashing at about 3am on Monday. Emergency vehicles swarmed the area and a cordon was put in place after the device was discovered.
The man responsible, who is cooperating with investigators, contacted the Secret Service after reports of the incident spread, a US official said.He told the agency he had been flying the drone recreationally and did not mean to fly it over the White House.
Secret Service agents are now trying to corroborate the man's story, and the official said they do not have any reason to doubt his version of events.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who is in India with Barack Obama, said: "There is a device that has been recovered by the Secret Service at the White House.
"Early indication is that it does not pose any sort of ongoing threat to anybody right now."
While Mr Obama and his wife Michelle are in India, their two daughters are still in the US and are being looked after by their grandmother.
It is unclear whether they were home at the time.
Earlier this month four top-ranking Secret Service employees were demoted after several security breaches.
In September, a man scaled the fence surrounding the White House and ran into the building through an unlocked door.
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