Hambach Forest operation targets suspected power-grid saboteur still on the run

Up to 100 police vehicles gathered near Hambach Forest on Sunday as investigators searched for a man accused of attempting to sabotage Germany’s power networks. The suspect remains at large, and police said they were following leads received in the case.

A new wanted notice said the man could be traveling on foot or by bicycle. Police are looking for a black Trenoli Tazio Sportivo M bicycle with a 56-centimeter frame, according to the Brandenburg police force.

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The search is ongoing.

Investigators had already published photographs of the 48-year-old suspect. On Friday, officers found explosives at his apartment in Gevelsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia. A special police unit later raided a truck near the Hambach open-cast mine in Niederzier that appeared to have been converted into a motorhome. The suspect was not there.

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There have been leads, and we are following them.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said the man came under suspicion after two apparently authentic letters containing details known only to the perpetrator. According to the ministers, the letters cited opposition to energy generation from fossil fuels as the reason for the attacks.

Dobrindt described the case, based on the current evidence, as “climate extremism” involving a suspected lone offender. He also stressed that the investigation was continuing and that no final assessment could yet be made. Germany’s security situation is considered tense, amid concern about sabotage and attacks, including the threat of hybrid warfare. The federal government recently blamed Russia for an attempted drone attack involving explosives at Leipzig Airport, a claim Moscow rejected.

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Climate extremism.