German investigators have found suspected explosives near a drone that crashed near a key military air base, public broadcasters reported Tuesday.
NDR and WDR said the wreckage was found about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the Wunstorf Air Base in Lower Saxony, which stations the armed forces' fleet of A400M military transport aircraft.
A farmer alerted police about a week earlier after finding a drone broken into pieces in thick brush near the site. The Federal Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) have taken up the case.
Investigators believe the wreckage may have carried explosives, according to the public broadcasters and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which cited security sources. Suspicious material was meters from the drone, said sources. Forensic tests on the substance have not been completed.
The drone appears similar in construction to devices used in the attempted attack at Leipzig Airport last month, said sources. At least one part was made with a 3D printer and was not a standard commercial model.
The Leipzig incident in early August involved homemade drones that investigators said were intended to destroy Ukrainian cargo aircraft.
On Sept. 1, the German government concluded that Russia was behind the attempted attack and announced measures including the closure of the Russian consulate general in Bonn and a cultural center in Berlin.
Russia's Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev rejected the accusation as unproven and absurd. In a statement after Berlin's announcement, he called it a fabricated provocation meant to serve Kyiv and Europe's "militarist wing," and said Germany's measures marked a sharp escalation that would not go unanswered.
