A German officer, arrested in October for possession of a large arsenal of weapons, also had radioactive material and classified documents at home, AFP learned Friday (October 22) from a judicial source.
The radioactive substance, Strontium-90 in unknown quantity, was discovered in this Bundeswehr soldier during a search on October 12 in Aldenhoven (north-west), the Frankfurt prosecutor's office told AFP, confirming a information from
Spiegel
.
Read alsoThe Bundeswehr confronted with the mystery of arms caches
Following the search, the officer was taken into custody.
The arsenal discovered at his home included Kalashnikovs, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, as well as tank ammunition and numerous defused grenades.
The arsenal did not come from army stocks
The Ministry of Defense had said that these weapons did not come from army stocks.
Strontium-90 is used in particular in medicine and in industry, and is one of the residues released during the explosion of an atomic weapon or in a nuclear reactor.
Investigators also found in the officer's two classified files of German intelligence services on North Korea, according to
Spiegel
, as well as "
Communist literature
".
The man was employed in the German army in a unit specializing in the analysis of improvised explosive devices.
The reputation of the Bundeswehr has been tarnished in recent months by the implication of several soldiers or former soldiers in illegal activities.
This week, two former soldiers were arrested for trying to set up a commando of mercenaries to intervene in Yemen.
Suspicions of far-right sympathies also led to the suspension of officers from different units.