‘Explosive drone’ found next to plane shuts down runway at airport in Germany

German police are investigating attempted sabotage after a drone rigged with explosives was found next to a Ukrainian cargo plane in Leipzig.

The Ukrainian An-124 cargo aeroplane had been at Germany’s Leipzig-Halle Airport,a major hub for cargo aircraft.

Just before midnight,the drone was found next to the Ukrainian cargo plane,with an ‘unknown substance and detonator’ fitted to it.

Police called a bomb squad to conduct a remote detonation,and there were no injuries or fatalities. Leipzig-Halle Airport also serves commercial aircraft passengers,but in a separate area.

Germany’s interior minister,Alexander Dobrindt,described the incident as ‘a hybrid attack scenario.’

He said: ‘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.’

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Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.Speaking at a press conference,he said the technology used pointed to professionals who knew how to circumvent drone defences at the airport.Police in Germany are investigating the discovery as a possible sabotage attack,but no leads have been produced so far.The cargo plane was targeted just after midnight (Picture: Getty)Russia has been suspected of multiple plots to set fire to or detonate explosives near cargo.In 2024,a DHL plane flying from Leipzig Airport to Lithuania crashed,killing one and injuring three others.That incident came just months after Russian-backed saboteurs were believed to be behind a firebomb which detonated at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham – dubbed a ‘test run’ by spies from the country.Before the blaze in Birmingham, a near-identical fire occurred at a DHL warehouse in Leipzig,Germany – where the plane that crashed near Lithuania departed from – with another suspect package bound for a flight thought to be the source of the blaze.European authorities,including MI6,previously alleged that Russia is behind the expanding campaign of sabotage on planes. Leipzig Airport is a major cargo hub for international carriers (Picture: Reuters)Russia is suspected to have been targeting aircraft systems for years,but their suspected meddling with Ryanair,Wizz-Air,British Airways,Easyjet,TUI and Jet2 systems was only uncovered after an open-source investigation.Between August 2023 and March 2024 alone,46,000 flights in areas such as the Baltic, Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean logged interference issues.Warnings of Russian interference with plane navigation systems are not unheard of – and the Kremlin has continued to deny any wrongdoing.In 2019,the Norwegian defence ministry brought up the issue in a bilateral meeting with Russian officials.The electronic attacks have also been allegedly deployed in the Donbas,eastern Ukraine,dating back to 2015.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .For more stories like this,check our news page.