Power-grid sabotage: police launch public manhunt for fugitive 48-year-old
A 48-year-old claimed responsibility in two letters for attempted sabotage attacks on the power grid in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia – he has not been apprehended so far.
Public manhunt for power-grid saboteur in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia
Police and prosecutors in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia have launched a joint public manhunt. According to Tagesschau, a 48-year-old suspect remains at large after claiming responsibility in two letters for attempted sabotage attacks on the electricity supply in several German states. Authorities released two photographs of the man and appealed to the public for information.
The letters, signed with the 48-year-old's name, were received by several media outlets. In them, the sender claimed responsibility for attacks on the power grid around the Jänschwalde and Schwarze Pumpe power plants in Brandenburg, as well as attacks on the electricity supply near Gohr, Bergheim-Rheidt, Dormagen and Weisweiler in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the contents of the letters as "clear evidence of perpetrator knowledge". Regarding the motive, the CSU politician suggested that this was very likely "climate terrorism" carried out by a lone individual. In one of the letters of claim, it states: "Power generation from fossil fuels is a crime."
Notable is the geographical location of the affected areas: they are all situated near active lignite mining sites. According to industry association Debriv, lignite is still being mined in Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia, in southern Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, and in Saxony.
On Friday, officers found explosives in the apartment of the suspect in Gevelsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia. On the afternoon of the same day, a special operations unit stormed a lorry approximately 100 kilometres away in a forest near Niederzier, which appeared to have been converted into a motorhome. The fugitive was not found there either.
Investigators are considering several possible motives for the attack. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul did not rule out a left-wing extremist background, nor did he exclude "state-sponsored sabotage". Whether the suspect is actually responsible for one or more of the attempted attacks has not been confirmed so far.
Source: Tagesschau