German state prosecutors have taken over the investigation into a drone incident at Leipzig/Halle airport on Wednesday after an explosive device was found.
Earlier on Wednesday, authorities said they were investigating a suspicious object found near the southern runway of the airport in eastern Germany, which serves as a major hub for logistics group DHL and Ukraine‘s Antonov Airlines.
The prosecutors’ ZESA extremism office and officers from the state counter-terrorism unit have now become involved, it said, after the drone was found to be carrying an explosive device.
Several aircraft, including a passenger flight, had been diverted to other airports overnight after the sighting of the flying object shortly before midnight, but operations were back to normal by the morning, the spokesperson said.
While air traffic was being diverted, a DHL cargo aircraft hit an unknown object as it was climbing away from the airport, prompting an unscheduled landing in Hanover, a source familiar with the incident said.
German airports are on high alert after a series of unauthorised drone overflights at sites including military facilities, energy terminals, seaports and logistics companies.
Federal police have said the overflights could have been organised by Russian agents.
Drone found near airport runway
Bild first reported that a drone with an explosive device had been found lying in the immediate vicinity of a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The airline has used Leipzig/Halle as an operating base since Russia‘s full-scale invasion in 2022.
X-ray imaging revealed a detonator inside, but it was defective, according to Bild.
The explosive may have been one that can be made easily from fertiliser and gasoline, it added.
European security agencies have been investigating a series of incendiary devices concealed in parcels that caught fire in 2024, raising concerns about sabotage of air cargo operators.
Some of the devices were found at a DHL warehouse in Leipzig and in freight shipments in transit across Europe.
Another Interior Ministry spokesperson said no connection with Tuesday night’s incident could be determined at this stage.
Russia has denied any involvement in the 2024 incidents and the more recent overflights.
DHL Group CEO Tobias Meyer said the German logistics firm was still studying the overnight incident, but trying to minimise the effect on customers.
