Germany has opened an investigation after an explosive-laden drone was found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport and a second flying object collided with a cargo aircraft near the same facility.
The probe is being conducted by counter-terrorism police and prosecutors of Saxony state, in eastern Germany, following Wednesday’s incidents that caused the temporary suspension of flights at one of the top cargo hubs in Europe.
Saxony police said in a statement that an airport employee discovered the drone near the airport’s south runway with “an unknown explosive device,” which was removed by a bomb disposal robot.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the drone had been spotted lying in the immediate vicinity of a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane.
Leipzig/Halle Airport is used by the German military and NATO countries for the transport of military equipment and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.
Additionally on Wednesday, a second unidentified flying object hit a DHL cargo plane after the aircraft aborted its landing due to the runway being closed at Leipzig/Halle airport, police said. The plane sustained minor damage but landed safely at Hannover airport.
In public remarks on Wednesday evening, Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned that the discovery of the explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle airport marks “a new level of danger” for the country.
He added that the incident did not appear to be the work of amateurs, and that investigators were treating it as part of a “professional hybrid threat scenario”.
“We are dealing here with a competition that may also include foreign powers – this will be part of the investigations – who quite obviously want to contribute to considerable uncertainty in Germany,” said Dobrindt, who cut short his holiday to deal with the matter.
