Plane near drone found at German airport was carrying ammunition, media reports say

FRANKFURT – A Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked near an explosive-laden drone found at Germany’s Leipzig-Halle airport on the night of Aug 4 was carrying a payload of military ammunition, a group of news outlets including Sueddeutsche Zeitung – one of Germany’s largest newspapers – reported on Aug 6.

Forensic experts found that the explosives attached to the drone were of a high military grade, said the joint report, which was also carried by broadcasters NDR and WDR and cited a confidential police report.

Those findings potentially raise the stakes in a widening counterterrorism investigation of the incident at an airport serving as a major cargo and military logistics hub that the German government has designated as critical infrastructure.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said late on Aug 5 that the drone incident constituted a hybrid attack and an elevated level of danger.

Police in the state of Saxony, where Leipzig-Halle is located, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the media reports of the Ukrainian aircraft’s military payload.

The German authorities, meanwhile, said on Aug 6 they were continuing the search for debris of an unidentified object that damaged another freight jet midair near Leipzig airport on the same night.

Incidents disrupt one of Germany’s main logistics hubs

The drone was found close to several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo airplanes, among the world’s biggest freighters, according to earlier media reports.

The cargo jet that struck the unidentified object was performing a go-around due to the closure of one of the airport’s runways.

It was lightly damaged in the collision and eventually landed in Hanover in northern Germany.

Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some operated by German logistics group DHL, were diverted late on Aug 4.

Police officers work near an Antonov cargo plane, near which a drone was found, at Leipzig-Halle Airport on Aug 5. PHOTO: REUTERS

A spokesperson for Leipzig-Halle airport, which is also used by companies like Lufthansa Cargo and Amazon, said on Aug 6 that operations were back to normal and no additional security measures had been implemented.

While the German authorities have said the perpetrators of the incidents at the airport had not yet been identified, Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker and a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, blamed Russia directly.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin did not respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters. REUTERS