Sabotage at transformer stations: police search for Daniel V. – major operation at Hambach Forest
Police are searching with photographs for 48-year-old Daniel V., who is believed to be responsible for several acts of sabotage on the German power grid. On Sunday, a major operation was conducted at Hambach Forest.
Hunt for alleged power grid saboteur expands
Following a series of sabotage attacks on transformer stations across Germany, police are publicly searching for the 48-year-old suspect Daniel V. – with photographs. According to lessentiel.lu, officers searched his apartment in Gevelsberg on Friday and secured explosives in the process.
On the same afternoon, a special operations team stormed a lorry approximately 100 kilometres away in Niederzier in a wooded area, which appeared to have been converted into a motorhome. The wanted man was not found there.
On Sunday, police launched a major operation at Hambach Forest near Kerpen, west of Cologne. According to information from the German Press Agency, the operation is connected to the attempted acts of sabotage against the German power grid. According to a dpa reporter on site, up to 100 police vehicles were present.
Investigators believe that V. may be travelling with a bicycle of the brand TRENOLI, model Tazio Sportivo M, frame size 56 cm.
Claim letters indicate climate motive
The hunt is based on two claim letters that have been sent to several media outlets. In them, V. states that he wishes to combat fossil energy sources – including brown coal. The attacks on the power grid focused on North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, and most recently Saxony – federal states where brown coal continues to be mined and used for electricity generation.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the knowledge revealed in the letters was "clear perpetrator knowledge". On the motive, he said it was very likely to be "climate terrorism" by a lone actor. In one of the letters it states: "Electricity generation from fossil fuels is a crime."
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul emphasised that whoever endangers the power supply to hospitals in the name of climate protection saves nothing but endangers lives. "No ideology serves as an excuse," Reul said.
Twelve explosive devices defused in East Saxony
Police have now discovered twelve explosive devices on electrical transmission lines in East Saxony. These were designed to cause damage to high-voltage power lines through a short circuit, according to security authorities' statement to the German Press Agency. The homemade explosive devices were defused by specialists from the state criminal office.
Investigations are now underway on suspicion of causing an explosion through explosives in conjunction with attempted disruption of public services and attempted sabotage against the constitution.
According to Bild, V. grew up in Gevelsberg as the son of a teacher and an architect. Neighbours describe him as a loner since childhood. "If he is actually behind these acts – I would never have thought him capable of that," said a resident to Bild.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)