Power-grid sabotage at Hambacher Forst: police search for 48-year-old suspect
Police searched Hambacher Forst with approximately 100 vehicles for a 48-year-old suspect – without success. The manhunt for sabotage against German electricity networks continues.
Large-scale operation at Hambacher Forst yields no results
As www1.wdr.de reports, police conducted a large-scale search on Sunday at Hambacher Forst near Kerpen west of Cologne for a 48-year-old suspect – and did not find him. Search operations began at midday and were called off at 19:00. No traces of the wanted man were discovered, a Cologne police spokesman told dpa. However, a general manhunt for the man continues.
According to a dpa reporter, up to 100 police vehicles were on site. The goal of the operation was to find the suspect himself or traces pointing to his whereabouts. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) stated that the man had sent claim of responsibility letters that indicated "perpetrator knowledge".
Attacks in three federal states
The attempted sabotage acts targeted energy infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony – three federal states in which lignite coal is still mined and converted into electricity. In Saxony, twelve explosive devices aimed at electricity grids were defused. Several power plants and power lines were apparently deliberately targeted.
On Friday, officers found explosives in the suspect's apartment in Gevelsberg in the southern Ruhr area. Shortly afterwards, a special operations unit stormed a lorry in Niederzeir at the Hambach open-cast mine, which had been converted into a motorhome – the wanted man was not found there either.
Manhunt with photograph and bicycle lead
Since Saturday, police have been conducting a public manhunt with two photographs of the suspect. A bicycle that he may have used is now also being sought: a black model by Trenoli, type "Tazio Sportivo M", with a frame height of 56 centimetres, as Brandenburg police announced.
At Hambacher Forst, officers discovered an inhabited treehouse. A search would have required specialist personnel who were not available at short notice, according to the police spokesman. The situation on site is nevertheless continuing to be monitored.
Symbolic location of resistance to lignite coal
Hambacher Forst is regarded as a nationwide symbol in the dispute over the energy transition. The forest lies at the edge of the Hambach lignite open-cast mine and was originally designated for clearing. Since 2012, environmental activists have erected treehouses under the motto "Hambi bleibt" ("Hambi stays") to prevent the felling of trees.
In autumn 2018, the CDU-led state government cleared the forest in one of the largest police operations in North Rhine-Westphalia's history. In early 2020, a compromise between the federal government, states and energy companies led to the permanent protection of the forest. The extraction edge of the open-cast mine has since ended just before the forest margin. By 2035 at the latest, Hambacher Forst is to pass into public ownership and become primeval forest – so decided the black-green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)