German police have arrested three people at an aircraft hangar in the western part of the Federal Republic that houses Chancellor Friedrich Merz's private plane, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
Law enforcement authorities suspect that two women aged 23 and 28 and a 56-year-old man intended to damage the plane, prosecutors in Merz's hometown of Arnsberg said.
The three were arrested for trespassing after entering the hangar without permission at Arnsberg-Menden airport at night.
Merz, who took office in May last year, is an avid pilot and lives in Arnsberg, about 400 kilometers southwest of Berlin.
The police became suspicious after a driver asked for directions to a local airport. He was later identified as a well-known left-wing activist and the attention of the law enforcement agencies was drawn to the hangar where Merz's plane was located, which led to the arrest of the three German citizens.
A group called the “Resistance Collective“ claimed responsibility for the conspiracy, adding that it was organized "as part of a protest action aimed at preventing Friedrich Merz's private plane from flying".