Overview
- German intelligence and police found two handguns and ammunition hidden in a forest near Berlin last year; the weapons were made inoperable and the site was monitored but no one collected them.
- German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said authorities traced the case through international inquiries that led to the detention of a suspect in Romania who is described as a 'low-level agent' and is being investigated for preparing attacks and suspected espionage.
- Officials say the weapons were likely intended for attack plans and reporting by Sueddeutsche Zeitung and broadcasters NDR/WDR cites security assessments that the cache may have been set up on orders from Russian services.
- Berlin is in contact with Romanian authorities over a possible extradition and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office is pursuing the probe as a serious act of violence posing a threat to the state.
- The case fits into a wider rise in what Germany calls hybrid threats, with the domestic intelligence service warning of risks to defence executives, exiled opposition figures and supporters of Ukraine and recent incidents including an explosive-laden drone found at Leipzig airport.