Sabotage at power grid: explosives found in North Rhine-Westphalia, suspect on the run
In several German federal states, sabotage acts against transformer stations have been carried out. Federal Interior Minister Dobrindt speaks of "climate terrorism" by a suspected lone perpetrator.
Attacks on Germany's power supply escalate
Google News LU DE reports on a series of coordinated sabotage acts against German energy infrastructure that has put police authorities in several federal states on high alert.
Police found explosives in the flat of a 48-year-old suspect in Gevelsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Friday. This was confirmed by North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) in Düsseldorf. According to Reul, there were no indications that the man was particularly dangerous. The suspect's confession letter was classified as authentic. The search for the suspect is continuing.
Later, a special police unit stormed the man's vehicle – an apparently converted lorry-turned-motorhome – in a forest near Niederzier, around 100 kilometres from the site where the explosives were found. The suspect was not found there. According to Reul, he is probably on foot and will "not get far".
Confession letter and motive
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) described the incidents as very probably "climate terrorism" by a lone perpetrator. According to him, the confession letter states: "Electricity generation from fossil fuels is a crime." It is notable that the crime scenes are all located near regions where brown coal is still being mined.
Dormagen as a starting point
The starting point of the latest investigation was a discovery in Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf. A jogger found a suspicious object at a transformer station on Thursday evening. Cologne police are treating it as a sabotage incident. A police spokesman told the German Press Agency (dpa) that investigators have a confession letter that also mentions other, already publicly known suspected cases in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg.
The object could be a "suspicious launcher", it was reported overnight. Bild reported that launchers for homemade rockets had been discovered, to which timer switches and copper wires had been attached. Police did not officially confirm these details. In a statement to the news agency AFP, Cologne police said the find resembled that from 1 September in Bergheim near Cologne, where launchers for pyrotechnic items had been seized.
Large-scale operation in Lower Saxony
After the incident in Dormagen, police also mounted a large-scale operation at the transformer station in Ganderkesee in Lower Saxony near Oldenburg. The transformer station there was cordoned off over a wide area. At first, only "suspicious circumstances" were mentioned. A police spokeswoman told the regional newspaper that there had been a "finding" that "triggered a police investigation".
Hamm and further operations in North Rhine-Westphalia
A police operation also took place in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, in connection with the sabotage acts. Numerous police vehicles arrived on Friday evening at a spot on a country road near a woodland area, and a helicopter was also deployed. According to police, five people were checked and taken to the station for questioning. No further information was initially disclosed.
Saxony: twelve explosive devices defused
Police in East Saxony discovered a total of twelve explosive devices on high-voltage power lines. According to dpa, the security authorities stated that the devices had been "home-made" and were intended to "cause damage to the electrical high-voltage power lines through a short circuit". Specialists from the state criminal police had defused the explosives. "No actual damage or disruption to the power supply occurred. There is no danger to the population," the authorities said.
The Görlitz Police Directorate also confirmed a separate ongoing operation north of Bautzen, regarding which no further details were initially provided for "investigative reasons". Bild reported that explosive and incendiary devices had been found at two transformer stations in the Lusatian brown coal mining area on the border with Brandenburg.
Pattern across several federal states
Sabotage incidents have so far been registered in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, and Saxony. In some cases, confession letters are available according to dpa. The proximity of the crime scenes to brown coal mining regions is regarded by investigators as key evidence of the perpetrators' political-ideological motive.
Source: Google News LU DE