Germany is seeking the extradition from Romania of a suspect in a case involving a secret weapons cache in a forest near Berlin. German media link the arsenal to Russian intelligence and possible assassination plots on German soil.
This was reported by The Guardian.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed that federal prosecutors had opened an investigation on suspicion of preparing a serious act of violence threatening national security.
According to German media, two handguns and ammunition were found in a wooded area near Berlin about a year ago. Information about the possible cache was received by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country’s domestic intelligence and counterintelligence agency. The weapons were not immediately removed. They were rendered unusable and left in place in the hope of identifying people who might come to retrieve them. The cache was electronically monitored for several months. However, no one came to collect the weapons. Investigators assumed that those involved may have learned that the cache had been discovered.
Dobrindt described the suspect Germany wants extradited from Romania as a “low-level agent.” His nationality has not been disclosed.
Investigators are examining the possibility that Russian intelligence services may have been preparing assassination plots in Germany. Potential targets reportedly include executives of defense companies, Russian opposition figures in exile and other prominent supporters of Ukraine.
German law enforcement authorities are also investigating a possible link between the weapons cache and a sabotage campaign targeting logistics routes used to transport supplies for Ukraine.
Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office and the Russian embassy declined to comment. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage, intimidation and other operations against EU countries.
