Czech police have detained three people, including U.S. and Czech citizens, following an arson attack at an industrial drone complex on March 20.
The suspects are accused of carrying out a terrorist attack and participating in a terrorist group, with prosecutors seeking to remand those detained in the Czech Republic into custody.
“We can confirm the detention of three suspects in the deliberate arson of a building,” Czech police said in a March 24 post on X.
Czech investigators began probing the overnight fire at an industrial drone complex as a possible deliberate attack, officials said at the time.
LPP Holding, based in Pardubice, around 60 miles east of Prague, said on its site on the day of the incident that a fire broke out at one of its facilities in the early hours of the morning.
LPP Holding specializes in drones and unmanned aerial and ground vehicles with autonomous navigation, as well as C4 systems, avionics, and artificial intelligence for face and object recognition, according to its website.
“Among the detained are state nationals of the Czech Republic and the USA,” police said.
“One individual was detained thanks to excellent cooperation with our Slovak colleagues and the prosecutor’s office there in Slovakia; the other two on our territory.”
Authorities have not publicly identified the suspects.
The group, identifying itself as “The Earthquake Faction,” described itself as “an internationalist underground network that targets key sites critical to the Zionist entity.”
Chief Public Prosecutor Zdenek Stepanek told Czech news website Deník N on March 24 that investigators of the terrorist attack in Pardubice are “leaning towards one of the investigative scenarios.”
“The most likely version is now the one that the attackers themselves declared,” Stepanek said.
Police initially said they were investigating whether the fire was intentional and checking public claims of a “concrete group,” without naming it.
In 2023, Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems announced plans to establish a drone technology center in the Czech Republic in cooperation with LPP.
Political scientist and extremism expert Miroslav Mares told Deník N on March 26 that he believed that some of the pro-Palestinian activists were probably radicalized last autumn.
“It’s not unexpected,” he said.
“The radical pro-Palestinian spectrum has been around for years.”
Mares said that they had organized demonstrations and strongly manifested themselves in public spaces and various disruptive events.
For example, roughly thirty demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags blocked tram traffic in central Prague in March 2025. Police, including riot units, intervened and detained 17 protesters, reported Radio Prague International.
Attacks in the UK
In the UK, Elbit Systems, a major supplier to the Ministry of Defence, has been targeted by groups.Palestine Action is pursuing a vandalism-led strategy to shut down Israeli arms manufacturers in the UK.
In 2024, the activists worked with a climate change group called Shut the System to target 20 Barclays branches, smashing windows and spray-painting buildings red.
In response to Palestine Action’s spree, he wrote on X that both political parties Labour and Conservative should consider “carefully” his review of political violence.
“Extreme protest group Palestine Action is today claiming to have targeted around 20 branches of Barclays Bank; their criminal sabotage is evident today. Currently, they freely advertise’ training days to instruct activists on criminal acts,” he said.
The group was formally proscribed as a terrorist organization in July 2025 under the Terrorism Act 2000, making membership or support a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The ban put Palestine Action on the same footing as the ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorist groups.
