BERLIN: German police said Monday they were investigating drone observations over two army installations, at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put the country on alert for espionage.
Police in the southern state of Bavaria said that they, with prosecutors, tested several incidents in which drones have invaded army’s comforts in Manching and Neuburg and Der Donau.
On Sunday police spotted up to 10 unmanned aerial vehicles flying in a secured military zone in Manching, which hosts a military aerodrome and is where the Eurofighter jet is developed by Airbus.
Eyewitnesses also saw several drones at the same site on December 16 and 18, as well as in the early hours of Christmas Day.
On December 19, 3 drones were in Neuburg and Der Donau, also at an army air base.
Both sites are about 20 kilometers (12 miles), just south of the city of Ingolstadt.
Police said they undertook “extensive investigations” into the incidents, including the deployment of helicopters, “as it cannot be ruled out that military installations and defence companies are being spied on in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”.
However, the police have not yet been able to who drones.
‘Suspicious people’
Police asked the public to relay any applicable information, adding “suspect or vehicle” remarks near the two sites.
Incidents are being investigated for imaginable violations of the law that prohibit “taking photographs that threaten security. “
In May 2024, a Eurofighter plane broke after colliding with a drone when he landed at the spots site.
In recent months several drones have also been spotted at an industrial zone near the North Sea and near the US airbase in Ramstein.
Germany has been unsettled in recent years by a number of high-profile cases of alleged spying for foreign powers.
A Chinese woman was arrested in October in Germany accused of spying on defence industry installations.
Police also launched a probe in December against a Chinese man who was reported to have taken photographs at a naval base on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast.
At the end of the year, a series of mysterious drones sightings in the state of New Jersey in the United States caused international curiosity, which announced drone flight restrictions.
However, Federal officials of the USA.
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