(de-news.net) – A 48-year-old man is wanted for alleged sabotage motivated by opposition to fossil fuels, and German authorities are looking into a number of suspected attacks on electricity infrastructure across several states. A coordinated security response has been prompted by the incidents.
Following alleged attempts to disrupt Germany’s electrical grid, police operations continued in Saxony as investigators worked to secure evidence and clarify the circumstances surrounding the incidents. After explosive or incendiary devices were discovered at two locations in the Görlitz district, forensic teams spent the night documenting and securing potential evidence. Saxony Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) said four items had been secured and confirmed that authorities had received a purported claim of responsibility. Saxony’s security services remained in close coordination with authorities in the other states affected by the suspected attacks, reflecting the broader scope of the investigation.
Meanwhile, investigators across Germany were searching for a 48-year-old resident of Gevelsberg who has allegedly claimed responsibility for attacks targeting power infrastructure in Saxony, Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. During a search of his apartment, investigators discovered explosives or other materials considered suspicious, while authorities have assessed the purported claims of responsibility as genuine. The suspect has been characterized as a radical environmentalist whose stated objective was opposition to fossil fuels, making the alleged motive a central element of the investigation.
The investigation follows allegations that launching devices were used on Tuesday to deliberately disrupt electricity supplies in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg. Police also responded to an incident involving a substation in Lower Saxony’s Oldenburg district, while similar equipment was subsequently discovered near Dormagen in North Rhine-Westphalia. The search intensified after authorities located a seemingly suspicious truck believed to be connected to the suspect, prompting a special police operation near the Hambach Forest. Special forces searched the vehicle but did not find the man, who was believed to have continued traveling on foot. The operation brought the investigation into the area around one of the country’s most prominent lignite-mining regions.
Authorities assess broader risks to infrastructure
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) described the alleged attacks as a form of climate extremism and said authorities were currently working on the assumption that a single perpetrator was responsible. At a joint news conference with North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), Dobrindt warned that Germany was confronting multiple threat scenarios simultaneously. He also indicated that companies should be better prepared to protect themselves against drones. Reul condemned the suspected attacks, emphasizing that actions capable of placing hospitals and other essential services at risk should be understood as a threat to human life rather than as an act of climate protection.
Reul said the Gevelsberg man had sent letters to authorities claiming responsibility for the incidents. The documents reportedly identified opposition to fossil fuels as the motivation and contained extensive details about incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg that investigators considered evidence of specific knowledge of the alleged attacks. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also reported receiving two such letters. One purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack near Jänschwalde in Brandenburg and provided detailed information about the alleged method used, while another reportedly described several short-circuit incidents, including one in Dormagen.
A further suspected incident was reported near Weisweiler, where police discovered launching devices similar to those identified in earlier sabotage cases near a lignite-fired power plant. According to the reported claims of responsibility, the intended objective was to interfere with electricity production based on fossil fuels without necessarily producing more extensive power outages. The alleged distinction between disrupting fossil-fuel generation and causing a broader interruption of electricity supplies was therefore part of the reported rationale behind the incidents.
Separately, police in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, reported the discovery of a suspected homemade explosive device in a field. Officials said the device did not pose any danger to the public, while investigators had not identified any clear connection between the object and critical infrastructure. The incident was therefore being investigated separately from the suspected attacks on electricity facilities.
The incidents have raised particular concern because electrical substations constitute an important component of Germany’s critical infrastructure. These systems and services are considered essential because their disruption or failure can lead to supply shortages, compromise public safety and produce broader consequences for society.
