Arson attack near defence companies in Munich: Two Bulgarians remanded in custody
Following an arson attack on a building site near Helsing and Rohde & Schwarz, two Bulgarian suspects have been arrested. An investigating judge issued remand orders.
Suspects remanded in custody after attack on Munich defence site
Following an arson attack on a building site near the defence companies Helsing and Rohde & Schwarz in Munich, two suspects are being held in custody pending trial. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, an investigating judge issued remand orders on Friday against a 28-year-old Bulgarian woman and her countryman, who is ten years her senior.
The two are accused of property damage and attempted arson. They are alleged to have thrown incendiary devices from a moving car during the night leading into Thursday. The Munich public prosecutor's office and the Bavarian state criminal office confirmed the arrests. The judge in charge ruled that there was both a compelling suspicion of the offence and grounds for remand – such as risk of flight.
No one was injured in the attack and the damage remained minimal. One of the incendiary devices started a fire, which police officers at the scene extinguished. A second device did not ignite and was defused by explosives specialists. A witness observed the suspected perpetrators and alerted police, who arrested the two shortly afterwards at a nearby petrol station.
In the course of the investigation, three flats in the Munich district were searched, including one in Unterhaching. Numerous seized items are currently being evaluated. According to a spokesman for the state criminal office, there are no further suspects at present.
Whether the neighbouring company headquarters of Rohde & Schwarz and Helsing were actually the target of the attack remains unclear. According to publicly available information, Helsing supplies the Ukrainian armed forces in the war against Russia. The investigators and Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) are working on the assumption of a political motive. The state criminal office and the Munich public prosecutor's office, where the Bavarian central unit for combating extremism and terrorism is based, have taken over the investigation.
According to the assessment of the authorities, the incident is part of a series of acts of sabotage against companies and facilities of critical infrastructure in Germany. The Federal Government is now consulting with the Länder on new powers for drone defence as well as further protective measures, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Interior Ministry.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung