Manhunt at Hambach Forest after power grid saboteur proves unsuccessful
Around 100 police vehicles searched Hambach Forest for a 48-year-old suspect – without result. The manhunt for the alleged saboteur continues.
Police end search at Hambach Forest – sabotage suspect still at large
As zdfheute.de reports, police conducted a large-scale operation at Hambach Forest near Kerpen, west of Cologne, on Sunday afternoon searching for a 48-year-old suspect – and ended the operation at around 7 p.m. without result. A spokesman for Cologne police told the dpa that no leads had been found. However, a general manhunt for the man continues.
According to observations by a dpa reporter, up to 100 police vehicles were on site. The aim of the operation was to apprehend the suspect or secure evidence that could lead to him. The man is believed to have carried out several sabotage attacks on substations in Germany's electricity grid. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) stated that the suspect had sent confession letters that indicated "knowledge only the perpetrator would have".
In the forest, emergency personnel came across an inhabited treehouse. Specialist police units would have been required for a search, which were not available at short notice, according to the police spokesman. Authorities continue to monitor the situation locally nonetheless.
Manhunt expanded – bicycle also being sought
Investigators published a wanted notice on Saturday with two photographs of the suspect from Gevelsberg in the southern Ruhr area. Brandenburg police are now also searching for a bicycle of the brand Trenoli, model "Tazio Sportivo M", with a frame size of 56 centimetres, which the man may have used. A photograph of the black bicycle was attached to the statement.
On Friday, officers secured explosives from the suspect's flat in Gevelsberg. Later, a special police unit stormed a truck converted into a camper near Niederzier at the Hambach open-cast mine – the wanted man was not found there either.
Sabotage campaign across three states
The attempted sabotage acts targeted energy infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony – all of them states where brown coal is still mined and used for electricity generation. In Saxony, twelve explosive devices aimed at the power grid were defused.
Background: Symbol of resistance against brown coal
Hambach Forest is a woodland area west of Cologne that has been regarded for years as a symbol of resistance against brown coal-fired electricity generation. Since 2012, environmental activists have erected treehouses under the motto "Hambi bleibt" to prevent the forest from being cleared for the adjacent Hambach open-cast mine.
In autumn 2018, the then CDU-led state government cleared the forest in one of the largest police operations in North Rhine-Westphalia's history. In early 2020, the final salvation of the forest followed through a compromise between the federal government, states and energy companies. The black-green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia has since decided to develop "Hambi" into a primeval forest; by 2035 at the latest, it is to be transferred to public ownership.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)