Suspects planned arson attack on drone maker Skyeton, Slovak prosecution says

By Jan Lopatka

Aug 27 (Reuters) - An ‌arson attack planned ​by ​three suspects in eastern Slovakia targeted the drone maker Skyeton, the Slovak prosecution said on Thursday.

The company produces intelligence gathering and targeting ‌drones and has a facility in eastern Slovakia, according to its ⁠website.

"The attack was supposed to aim at the Skyeton company's factory," a spokesman for the regional ‌prosecution office in the eastern ‌city of Presov said in an email, confirming an earlier report by Slovak news website dennikn.sk.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for ​comment.

A German prosecutor told Reuters that a 26-year-old Latvian had been detained in Hamburg in relation to the case and extradition proceedings were under way.

Two ⁠other suspects, detained in Slovakia, were a Latvian and a Ukrainian, the Slovak prosecution said a day earlier.

Slovak ​police said that during a raid they had found an incendiary mixture and a plan for an attack on the drone ​facility. They added that the suspects acted on ‌commission, but did not name any party suspected of ordering the attack.

Dennikn.sk quoted Skyeton as saying that it had a sister operation ⁠in Ukraine and pointed to Russia being behind the attack.

"The recent attack on our facility in Slovakia is another proof that Ukrainian defence industry producers became a real thorn ⁠in Russians' side and that we are on the right path," the news website quoted the ​company as saying.

The Russian embassy in Bratislava did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Skyeton said that production at the Slovak site was for Western markets while its facility ‌in Ukraine produced for the Ukrainian army, dennikn.sk reported.

The Slovak site had no licences to export to the east, dennikn.sk ‌quoted Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kalinak as saying.

The court in Presov ruled on Thursday ⁠that the two suspects detained in ‌Slovakia will be held ​in custody pending investigation, Slovak television TA3 reported.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Additional reporting by Friederike Heine in Berlin; Editing by ‌Kirsten Donovan)

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