Lithuanian PM awaits intelligence details on drone DNA at German airport

Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius told LRT he has no further information about DNA traces found on a drone carrying explosives at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany. German media have reported that the traces match those previously recorded in Lithuania.

Sinkevičius said he expects the Second Department of Operational Services, known as AOTD, to provide more information soon.

“Our intelligence institutions, including the State Security Department and military intelligence, are quietly doing their work, analysing the information and presenting their analytical assessments to politicians,” Sinkevičius told reporters.

He stressed that politicians currently have no information beyond what has been made public.

“I think our Second Department will provide more information soon about the similarities involving fingerprints or DNA and why Lithuania’s name is being mentioned in this unpleasant incident in Germany,” he said.

Prime minister learned about incident from media

Asked how he had learned about the incident at Leipzig Airport, Sinkevičius said he had heard about it from the media.

“I learned about this specific case in the same way as the public did, from the media. But that does not mean that intelligence reports will not follow, providing deeper knowledge and more information,” he said.

German newspaper Die Zeit reported on Monday that DNA found on the drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport had previously been recorded in Lithuania. German media said the same traces were also found during an investigation into an arson attack at a DHL logistics centre in Leipzig in 2024.

The drone carrying explosives was found last week near a Ukrainian transport aircraft. It later emerged that the drone may have struck the aircraft’s wing, but the explosive device did not detonate. A second unidentified flying object was also spotted at the airport and collided with another aircraft.

Die Zeit reported that the DNA has not yet been linked to a specific person. There is also no evidence that the Leipzig airport incident and the earlier arson attack involving a DHL shipment are directly connected.

In July 2024, a shipment being transported by air caught fire at DHL’s logistics centre in Leipzig. Investigators later determined that an incendiary device had been hidden inside it. Similar incidents were recorded in the United Kingdom and Poland.

In March 2026, Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office brought charges against five people over activity linked to these incidents.