Top prosecutor leads drone probe in suspected attack on Germany’s national security

FRANKFURT, Germany - Germany’s federal prosecutor took on an investigation on Aug 6 into a suspected drone attack at a key freight and military airport in the country’s east and warned of an attempt to compromise national security.

The Office of the Federal Prosecutor said it was investigating a serious attack on Germany’s transport and logistics infrastructure that could have impacted foreign and domestic security.

There is sufficient evidence to suggest that a drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Aug 4 had been intended to cause an explosion, the prosecutor said in a statement.

“The drone had been equipped with professional explosives and a detonator,” the statement said.

A second object, which prosecutors suspect to be another drone, collided with a cargo jet in the vicinity of the airport as the jet attempted a go-around due to the security incident. The plane later landed in Hanover with minor damage.

The federal prosecutor took over the probe from a lower prosecutor in the city of Dresden.

Airport workers discovered the drone late on Aug 4 at Leipzig/Halle Airport, an important cargo and NATO logistics hub in eastern Germany.

The newspaper Bild cited unnamed investigators as saying that a technical defect prevented the drone-mounted device from exploding.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident as a hybrid attack.

Airport serves as a cargo hub, NATO base

The drone was found close to several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo airplanes, among the world’s biggest freighters, according to earlier media reports. A Reuters journalist saw police collecting evidence in the vicinity of one of the planes early on Aug 5.

Leipzig/Halle is the main base for NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution, known as SALIS, which is, among other things, helping to deliver equipment to strengthen the defence pact’s eastern flank using a small fleet of Antonov cargo planes.

Flights were suspended following the incident, impacting German logistics group DHL, which uses the airport as a cargo hub.

A Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle Airport on Aug 6. The drone was found close to several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo planes, media reports said. PHOTO: EPA

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

German authorities have not identified any suspects.

Dobrindt said he could not rule out “foreign powers.”

Some lawmakers have pointed the finger at Russia. In the past, German officials have often blamed Moscow for what they call hybrid attacks – incidents of aggression that fall short of acts of war.

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