Investigators found that the August drone attack attempt at Leipzig airport was more advanced than previously thought.

According to the weekly's findings, the August attempted attack using a drone with explosives at the Leipzig airport was more extensive than previously suspected. Investigators currently assume that three drones were used in the operation.

Why didn't there be an explosion?

The first of them, equipped with a charge of plastic explosive Semtex, fell on the tarmac where Ukrainian Antonov-type transport planes were standing. The drone was supposed to approach the engine under the left wing of the plane. Shortly before midnight, the bus driver saw the drone and stepped on it. The drone did not have a payload, which was lying in a 7 cm diameter can a few meters away, "Der Spiegel" revealed.

According to the weekly, investigators are sure that the charge could have set fire to the fuel tanks in the wing of the plane. There was no explosion because, as shown by the X-rays, there was only one wire at the fuse and not two, as would have been necessary.

Two more drones

Moreover, ten days after the attempted attack, another drone with traces of hexogen (a strong explosive used primarily in military applications) was found in a field in the Kabelsketal commune, approximately five kilometers from Leipzig airport. In turn, in the forest near Kursdorf, located between the airport's runways, the police discovered an antenna and traces of fire and explosion, as well as elements that investigators consider to be the remains of the third drone, "Der Spiegel" reported.

Investigators link one of the detainees with arson in Łódź

Investigators secured DNA traces on the devices, leading to the suspects. "One of them is said to have contact with the Russian secret services and is already linked to an earlier act of sabotage, the setting fire to a DIY store in Łódź in July 2024," the newspaper found out (the fire in Leroy Merlin at the end of July 2024).

The second suspect allegedly flew from Istanbul to Germany before the act and then flew to Serbia, which Western services consider to be the main center of Russian sabotage operations in Europe.

Who are the suspects?

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily reported on Wednesday that the suspects in the attempted attack on the Leipzig airport are a man with a Latvian passport, born in Russia, and a Russian from Belarus. The latter was already on record in various countries for other crimes.

According to information from "Der Spiegel", several European intelligence services have information about at least four Russian-controlled sabotage networks active in the EU. The largest actor is to be the Russian military intelligence service GRU, which is to report several of these networks. "One of them is said to be behind the operation in which a parcel caught fire at the Leipzig airport about two years ago, and another burst into flames in a warehouse in Great Britain," the weekly wrote.

The FSB internal intelligence service was also to create a sabotage network. "It clearly uses criminal structures in Europe," said "Der Spiegel."