Germany searches for man suspected of power grid sabotage

German police are searching for a 48-year-old man from Gevelsberg who, in two letters, claimed responsibility for several incidents targeting power supply infrastructure across the country. The man said he acted to draw attention to electricity production from fossil fuels, which he described as a crime.

A police spokesperson said it must first be established whether the man is truly the suspect or merely someone imitating the acts. Notably, the letters contained details about the incidents that had not yet been made public at the time they were sent.

Suspicious devices and threatened attacks

In western Germany, in Dormagen between Cologne and Düsseldorf, a suspicious device was found near a substation — according to the newspaper "Bild", it was a homemade rocket-launching device. The letters also warned of an upcoming attack on a power plant near Aachen, prompting police to thoroughly search the area around the Weisweiler power plant, where forensic experts collected wire plans.

Earlier in the week, similar incidents occurred elsewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Brandenburg. So far, actual damage has only been confirmed in Bergheim, where unknown persons threw wires over overhead power lines on Tuesday, causing a short circuit.

Authorities' response

As part of the search, police carried out a raid on the man's property in his hometown of Gevelsberg. North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister, Herbert Reul, said evidence points to a specific individual known to authorities, and that information from the letters, once checked, proved accurate. According to the minister, there are currently few indications of foreign involvement, and the acts appear largely to be the work of one individual, though involvement of a group has not been ruled out.

Following these incidents, police nationwide remain on heightened alert. In Ganderkesee, near Bremen, a large security operation was carried out this morning after a patrol noticed an open electrical cabinet, though nothing suspicious was found.