Police in Germany say they found a drone carrying a suspicious object and a second unidentified flying object at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
A drone carrying an unknown explosive device was spotted by an airport employee in the security area of the cargo operations zone near the southern runway overnight into Wednesday.
A suspected second unidentified flying object collided with a cargo aircraft after it had taken off again following the previous closure of the runway. Minor damage was detected on the aircraft after it landed in Hanover.
There have been a series of unauthorised drone flights in Germany in recent months over sensitive sites including military bases, airports, energy terminals, seaports and logistics companies.
German airports are on high alert. Federal police have warned that the overflights could have been organised by Russian agents.
A police spokesman told the BBC that the object discovered overnight had been spotted close to parked Ukrainian Antonov transport planes.
The object was examined with the assistance of the Federal Police and an explosive-detection robot.
The Federal Police’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit removed the detonator from the explosive device.
Flights on the northern runway resumed at 01:55 (23:55 GMT on Tuesday).
The southern runway, which is a major hub for the logistic group DHL, remains closed.
Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster has described it as a “very serious security incident”.
In July 2024 a parcel burst into flames on the ground at Leipzig airport before it could be loaded onto a DHL cargo plane. There are suspicions it could have been sabotage linked to Moscow.
Russia has denied any involvement in those incidents.
Last year a Chinese woman was convicted for passing on information about flight schedules and cargo movements at Leipzig-Halle airport to a man spying for Beijing.
