Four high-profile Russian tourists, including Pyotr Verzilov, spent an uncomfortable day in detention in the town of Kapoeta, South Sudan on Wednesday in a mix-up over a drone.
The other three are blogger Ilya Varlamov, his wife Lyubov, and lecturer Ivan Bogantsev.
The four Russians are in Africa on tourist visas.
Verzilov, a member of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, and the others had been touring in Uganda, where Mr Varlamov’s drone was confiscated – but not its remote control, which remained in his luggage.
When their bags were searched at Kapoeta airport, where they were due to take a plane to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, security officials demanded to know the location of the drone when they found the remote.
According to Varlamov, a Russian household name with over 2 million YouTube subscribers, despite not locating the actual aircraft itself, the officers then accused the tourists of illegally flying it.
Varlamov claims it had already been confiscated when they were in Uganda.
“They decided that we flew a drone, although we didn’t, and in the end, they took us off the plane and detained us,” Varlamov said.
“We are now in some incomprehensible department. They tried to take our phones, but we didn’t give them.”
Most African countries have strict laws either banning or restricting the use of drones.
Attempts to explain that they didn’t have the drone fell on deaf ears, and the group were hauled off to a ramshackle room where they were placed under arrest.
Meanwhile, the group insisted on keeping their phones so they could contact their embassy and others for help – and tweeted and blogged about their day.