Germany seeks extradition of suspect tied to Russian arms stash
by Joe Fisher · UPIAug. 21 (UPI) -- Authorities in Germany discovered an underground weapons cache in a forest near Berlin and are seeking to extradite a suspect from Romania.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the suspect as a "low-level agent" and added that several more agents have been detained this year. The call for extradition is part of a monthslong investigation after authorities discovered two firearms and ammunition stowed away in the forest.
The weapons cache is suspected to be linked to Russian intelligence. Investigators left the weapons in place after determining they were rendered useless in hopes of observing someone coming back for them. After months of surveillance, no one had come to the site to retrieve them, leaving investigators to believe that the operation had been abandoned.
Dobrindt said authorities are investigating whether the weapons were meant for a violent threat to national security.
"This case demonstrates that we are operating under a high threat level," Dobrindt told reporters.
German intelligence has been on elevated alert since Director General of the German Federal Domestic Intelligence Service Sinan Selen said two months ago that Russia may be preparing to carry out assassinations on supporters of Ukraine, members of the defense industry and political opponents.
The Russian embassy in Germany has not commented on the allegations.
Germany's Leipzig/Halle international airport was the site of an incident two weeks ago in which a drone armed with explosives was discovered. Authorities suspect that the Russian government is involved in the incident.
On the same day, a DHL cargo plane had to abort its landing at Leipzig and divert to another airport after colliding midair with an unknown object. The plane suffered minor damage to its nose.
Historic August moments through the years
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. The speech galvanized the nation's civil rights movements and led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. File photo by UPI | License Photo