French Invasion of Florida Foiled by Authorities

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Sirens wailed as agents from the Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and the FBI converged on an airport in Key West on Wednesday, ready to repel invaders.

The French had returned.  Specifically, two French people, Alexis Peltier and Yves Stindel, who have been flying around the world in a homemade ultralight plane, because . . . well, I don’t know.  Peltier is the founder of an environmental group called "Wings for Earth," but this did not appear to be part of anything connected with the group.  They’re just flying around.  That’s actually what they told the FBI: "We were just flying from Chile to Africa.  It’s a long story," said Peltier, before agents "whisked him away for questioning."

Remember the guy who was rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, and then got into trouble two hundred miles short of the other side and called his mommy for help on his cell phone?  He was French, too.

A Customs spokeswoman stated that "there was never any threat and there was no attempt to avoid detection," which I guess is why Border Patrol, Customs and FBI all converged on the airport, sirens wailing.  The report speculated that "U.S. authorities tend to react quickly to unidentified aircraft coming from Cuba."

Link: Reuters.com