Police operation at power facility in Hamm: five persons detained
Following sabotage attacks on the power network in North Rhine-Westphalia, police descended on a former substation in Hamm. Five persons were apprehended and taken in for questioning.
Large-scale operation at decommissioned substation in Hamm
As reported by Google News DE — Crime, a suspiciously parked vehicle near a former substation in Hamm triggered a major police operation. Numerous patrol cars and a helicopter were deployed to the site in the evening at a location on a country road near a wooded area. The "Hellweger Anzeiger" had previously reported on the incident.
A police spokesperson stated that the facility in question was a substation that had been out of service for some time. According to WDR, police detected tampering in the area of the grounds and discovered the parked vehicle. The object was cordoned off, five persons were apprehended and taken to the station for questioning.
Whether the power facility was actually the target of the five remains unclear. The "Westfälische Anzeiger" reports, citing police, that there are currently no indications of tampering with the facility itself — it is possible that only the fence was breached. Nearby lies the Sandbochum shaft, a decommissioned weather shaft that attracts photographers and other interested parties as a so-called "Lost Place".
Suspect in North Rhine-Westphalia still at large
The operation in Hamm comes as part of a series of sabotage acts against the power network in North Rhine-Westphalia. On Thursday evening, a walker discovered a suspicious object at a substation in Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf. Police are treating the discovery as an act of sabotage; it may involve a "suspicious firing device", a spokesperson said during the night.
At the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen and a substation in Eschweiler, emergency services conducted extensive sweeps of the surrounding area today. In letters claiming responsibility, Weisweiler was named as another crime scene. According to dpa information, the letters are said to come from a man from Gevelsberg near Hagen, who claimed responsibility in them for the recent attacks on the energy network in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia.
North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul stated that police stormed the vehicle of the 48-year-old suspect in Niederzier near Düren. However, the man was not inside; he presumably fled on foot. The vehicle, which was parked in the forest, is being examined for evidence, as explained by Markus Gemünd, head of the State Security department in the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Ministry.
Previously, police had searched a family home of the wanted man in Gevelsberg without finding him. At a press conference, Reul announced that explosives had been found in the man's apartment — specifically the substances potassium nitrate and potassium perchlorate.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)