Sabotage of energy infrastructure in NRW: Police hunt for 48-year-old
Following attacks on transformer stations in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg, police are searching for a 48-year-old suspect from Gevelsberg. A confession letter has been received by investigators.
Confession letter and firing devices: Police pursue suspected infrastructure saboteur
Google News AT — Crime (de) reports on a manhunt for a 48-year-old man from Gevelsberg in the Ennepe-Ruhr district, who is suspected of carrying out multiple acts of sabotage against energy infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg.
"We have a confession letter, and we are following up on the leads," a police spokesman in Cologne said on Friday. Whether the named person should be regarded as a suspect or a copycat would first need to be examined.
Walker discovers suspicious object in Dormagen
On Thursday evening, a walker found a suspicious object at a transformer station in Dormagen, located between Cologne and Düsseldorf. According to police, it could be a firing device. The investigation into this case is still in its early stages.
According to the authorities, the structures found are very similar to those devices with which unknown persons in Bergheim west of Cologne shot cables over power lines and disabled several power plant units. According to information from the Bild newspaper, the firing devices had timer switches and copper wires attached to them. Police classify the case as sabotage.
Further operations at critical infrastructure sites
Also early Friday morning, police moved in to several critical energy infrastructure locations. Several thin wires were found in the vicinity of Weisweiler power station near Aachen. An operation at a transformer station in Ganderkesee in the Lower Saxony district of Oldenburg, however, turned out to be a false alarm — triggered by an open switchboard cabinet.
Previously, unknown persons had attacked power lines in Jänschwalde in Brandenburg and in Bergheim.
Newspaper publishes details from confession letter
The newspaper taz reported on Thursday evening that it had received a confession letter regarding the incident in Brandenburg, which according to the postmark had been sent from North Rhine-Westphalia. According to it, the sender describes himself as a lone actor and describes the homemade rockets used in detail. He cites "immeasurable suffering" caused by the use of fossil fuels as his motive.
After extensive research, the taz explicitly pointed out that it could not be definitively clarified whether the author was actually the perpetrator. The attack in Bergheim was not mentioned in the letter. Several other media outlets also reported that the confession letter cited the fight against fossil fuels as the motive. Police made no statement on this.
Brandenburg announces new security centre
In response to the sabotage near Jänschwalde power station, the Brandenburg Interior Ministry announced on Thursday a new security centre for the protection of critical infrastructure. "The evidence is mounting that both attacks are part of a coordinated assault on our energy supply," said Brandenburg's Interior Minister Jan Redmann (CDU). The incidents showed how threatened critical infrastructure in Germany is and that urgent action is needed.
Critical infrastructure includes areas such as energy, transport, health, water, food, and finance and insurance sectors, whose failure could have serious consequences for public safety.
(APA/dpa)
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)