PRAGUE (AP) — Police in the Czech Republic said Tuesday three suspects have been arrested after a fire destroyed the warehouse of a company supplying autonomous drones to Ukraine.
The fire is being investigated as suspected arson linked to terrorism, police said.
Two of the suspects were arrested on Czech territory, but the third was detained in neighboring Slovakia. Czech authorities are now seeking the suspect's extradition.
They face charges of terrorist attack and participation in a terrorist group.
The suspects are Czech and U.S. nationals, police said without offering any more details.
“We continue to work intensively to apprehend the remaining suspects, also in cooperation with foreign partners,” they said.
The fire broke out in an industrial zone in the city of Pardubice, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Prague, destroying the warehouse building but causing no injuries, police said.
LPP Holding confirmed a fire in one of its buildings and said it was cooperating with the investigation.
The company develops and makes products for civilian and military use, such as drone autonomous technologies used by Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight against the Russian invasion.
Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said the incident may be related to a terrorist attack and the Czech side was sharing details of the investigation with its foreign partners
Top police officer Martin Vondrášek said police assumed the fire was arson. The blaze was extinguished by firefighters, and police said there was no danger to the public.
LPP Holding had previously said it was planning to open a center in Pardubice to develop and produce drones and train personnel in cooperation with Israeli Elbit Systems, a military technology company. However, after the attack it said the joint venture never came to fruition.
Arms manufacturers across the country have since boosted security measures.
LPP Holding said no arms were produced in the building that was attacked.
Unlike the previous pro-Western government, the new Czech government led by populist billionaire Andrej Babiš has rejected any financial aid for Ukraine and guarantees for European Union loans to the country fighting Russia's invasion. The Czechs join the ranks of Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia, who have led the opposition to EU backing for Ukraine.
However, popular support for Ukraine remains high.
The exterior of the industrial zone where a storage hall burned down is seen in Pardubice, Czech Republic, Friday, March 20, 2026. (Vostarek Josef/CTK via AP)
Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including Transportation Security Administration airport workers who are going without pay. The deal would exclude U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's removal operations, which have been core to the dispute.
As U.S. airports remain jammed with long lines due to short staffing at TSA, President Donald Trump ordered ICE officers to provide airport security, alarming some lawmakers.
DHS is now being overseen by Markwayne Mullin, whose nomination the Senate approved on Monday. Mullin has tried to present himself as a steady hand, saying his goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news.
Here's the latest:
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations would be funded, as well as Customs and Border Protection — but with new guardrails to position officers from those divisions in their traditional roles, rather than as they have been used more recently in immigration roundups.
It would also include immigration operations changes that Democrats have demanded, including mandating officers to wear body cameras and identification.
Since so much of ICE is already funded through Trump’s big tax breaks bill, and immigration officers are still receiving paychecks during the partial government shutdown, senators said the new restraints also would be imposed on operations that rely on that funding source.
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A National Transportation Safety Board specialist who was trying to get to New York’s LaGuardia Airport to help investigate a deadly collision between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck ran into wider airport delays on Monday.
The air-traffic control specialist, who was flying from Houston, “was in line with TSA for three hours,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference Monday evening. The NTSB called officials there to “beg” to get her through, Homendy said.
Routine funding for the department has lapsed since Feb. 14, leading to long waits at U.S. airports as Transportation Security Administration agents call out rather than work without pay.
Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration make changes in immigration enforcement operations following the deaths of two U.S. citizens during protests this year in Minneapolis. Trump has refused the latest proposal, and talks have stalled.
A day after the Trump administration began deploying federal immigration officers at some airports’ security checkpoints, long lines and hourslong waits persisted.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport said wait times at standard security checkpoints ranged from three and a half to four hours Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International urged travelers to allow at least four hours for both domestic and international screenings.
Baltimore-Washington International advised passengers to arrive three hours before their flights, noting that while wait times were “currently minimal,” that could change.
After weeks of missed paychecks, many TSA agents have called in sick or even quit their jobs under the financial strain. That’s forced some airports to close checkpoints at times, with wait times swinging dramatically.
Some airports are reporting shorter wait times — including Los Angeles International and Detroit Metro Airport, whose online trackers showed average waits of just several minutes early Tuesday.
Federal law enforcement officers are a routine presence at international airports. Customs and Border Protection officers screen arriving passengers, and Homeland Security Investigations agents conduct criminal inquiries tied to cross-border activity.
But immigration agents are rarely visible at TSA checkpoints, the front line of domestic air travel.
On Monday, Associated Press journalists observed ICE officers and agents patrolling terminals and lingering near long lines of passengers at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, John F. Kennedy International in New York, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and Louis Armstrong International outside New Orleans.
A handful of other airports — including Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International — also confirmed ICE would be on-site.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his office was monitoring the deployment of federal officers at O’Hare International.
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“All I can say is that the discussions have been very positive and productive, and hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters late in the evening: “Both sides are working in a serious way.”
Senators are discussing a proposal to end the Homeland Security budget stalemate by funding much of the department, including Transportation Security Administration airport workers who are going without pay, but excluding ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, which have been core to the dispute.
The potential breakthrough came after a group of Republican senators headed to the White House late Monday to meet with President Donald Trump. Senators said they expected the negotiators to work through the night, hammering out the details and present written proposals for both parties to discuss Tuesday at their weekly caucus lunches.
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Air travelers progress through the long lines for the TSA security checkpoint in Terminal C at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Federal immigration agents walk through Terminal A at Newark International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
People wait in a TSA security line at Terminal A of Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, N.J., U.S., Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
