Power Grid Attacks: Search for Suspected Saboteur Expands as New Devices Are Found

German police have widened the hunt for a suspected power-grid saboteur after a series of attacks across several states and the discovery of additional homemade devices.

Officers conducted a major operation between Remscheid and Wuppertal after a suspicious person carrying a backpack was seen at a substation in Remscheid. A helicopter searched the area between Remscheid-Lüttringhausen and Wuppertal-Ronsdorf. Police said operations were under way across North Rhine-Westphalia, including covert measures, but withheld details to protect the investigation.

Another major operation took place at a substation in the Wesel district on the Lower Rhine. Police noticed a cut fence there overnight and continued securing evidence during the day. The facility was being inspected together with its operator.

A 60-member investigative team is examining documents found in the suspect’s possession for indications of other possible crime scenes across Germany. Authorities are also coordinating with officials in other states. Police have been searching for a 48-year-old man from Gevelsberg in the southern Ruhr area, who is suspected of carrying out sabotage attacks in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg.

Investigators consider confession letters linked to attacks in those two states authentic and attribute them to the wanted man. They are also examining possible connections based on the type of explosive devices. The suspect allegedly used homemade rockets to shoot a thin wire over high-voltage lines, triggering short circuits. In Bergheim, west of Cologne, the attack shut down several power-plant units without causing blackouts. A similar attack near Jänschwalde in Brandenburg succeeded.

Further homemade launch devices were found near high-voltage routes in Saxony and defused by state criminal police specialists. Authorities said the number found in Saxony alone had reached 21.

“

We have now launched operations across the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia.