Drone loaded with explosive found near Ukrainian plane at German airport
The device was spotted by an employee at Leipzig/Halle Airport last night.
A drone loaded with an explosive device has been discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at a German airport.
Listen to this article
The device, reportedly fitted with a detonation mechanism, was spotted by an employee at Leipzig/Halle Airport last night.
Saxony Police said it was seen near an aircraft owned by Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, which uses the east German airport as a base.
Initial tests revealed the presence of explosive nitrates, German outlet Blind reports.
An explosion was only avoided because the device’s detonator had broken off, according to police documents seen by Die Welt.
The German outlet reports that the explosive is thought to be Semtex, which is used by militaries and for building demolitions.
A bomb disposal robot was deployed at Leipzig/Halle Airport to remove the device.
Read more: Romania shoots down third Russian drone, as president calls breaches 'intolerable'
Read more: Britain is right to back drones. Now it must move at wartime speed
A second unidentified object also reportedly collided with a cargo aircraft near Leipzig/Halle Airport, which is used by the military and Nato allies to transport goods.
Minor damage was recorded on the aircraft after it touched down at Hanover.
Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster called the situation a "very serious security incident".
Oleksii Makeiev, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, alleged Russian involvement.
“Who else could it be but Russia?”, he told Welt TV.
Police said in a statement: “Shortly before midnight, an unidentified flying object was sighted near Leipzig/Halle airport, prompting the diversion of several aircraft – including a passenger plane – to other airports.
"In addition, an object was detected near the southern runway, which was initially examined by the federal police, a process that involved the deployment of an explosives disposal robot."
Flights on Leipzig/Halle Airport’s northern runway restarted at 01.55am local time while the southern runway remained closed.
German security officials have reportedly labelled the incident internally as a suspected attempted attack, according to The Telegraph. State prosecutors have overtaken the investigation with specialist units focused on terrorism and extremism.
It comes as German airports remain on high alert after a series of unauthorised drone incursion at sensitive sites in recent months.
Police say the overflights could be linked to Russia.