Investigators in northern Germany said on Thursday that they were investigating suspicious drone activity over the Brunsbüttel industrial area following media reports.
“The Flensburg public prosecutor’s office confirms that it has opened an investigation into suspected espionage activities for the purpose of sabotage in connection with repeated drone flights over critical infrastructure in Schleswig-Holstein,” a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in nearby Flensburg told the AFP news agency, making similar comments to others.
Coastal industrial park and site of an LNG terminal to replace Russian gas
The industrial park around the port in Brunsbüttel, northwest of Hamburg near the mouth of the Elbe into the North Sea, houses a new floating terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
This power plant was built with government support in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Germany’s rush to import energy from other countries. There are plans to replace the plant with a permanent facility at the same location.
The area is home to several chemical companies as well as a decommissioned nuclear power plant, which is currently being dismantled after being shut down in 2011.
It is also the access point to the Kiel Canal, which connects the North Sea near Brunsbüttel with the Baltic Sea near Kiel-Holtenau and is used by around 30,000 ships every year.
Previous reports suggest that police suspect military drone activity
Before the limited comments from the Flensburg prosecutors on Thursday, two of Germany’s most widely read news magazines, “Bild” and “Spiegel”, had reported on the case.
They said drone flights had been observed repeatedly over the area since August 8.
The reports quoted police experts as theorizing that the drones, with their high flight speeds, could be Russian military spy vehicles.
Der Spiegel reported that the police drones that attempted to follow the mysterious observers out to sea were unable to reach flight speeds of around 100 kilometers per hour. The police therefore reportedly turned to the German army for help.
A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry told the German news agency DPA on Thursday that the Bundeswehr had provided radar and other data to the police so that they could better investigate the case.
Germany has been on alert for months because of possible Russian espionage or even sabotage. This was most clearly shown in a series of security concerns at Bundeswehr and NATO military facilities in the country. These led to an investigation, but then the all-clear was given.
News.Az
