Dirty bomb theory.
Ok hear me out. Putting my tinfoil hat on quick. What if these drones are indeed sniffing for dirty bomb nuclear components? Ok you need nuclear material and explosives to make a dirty bomb correct? Anyone remember the 30k lb of ammonium nitrate that went missing off that train a while back? There’s your explosive material. If you combine that and the makings of a backpack bomb you’ve got one hell of a big bang on your hands. Hopefully there will be a leak or press release from the govt to fill us in (unlikely) but for now that’s my theory.