Germany investigates man who allegedly sabotaged the electricity grid

Police in Germany are looking for a man who sent letters claiming responsibility for a series of sabotage attacks against the power grid this week, after finding what appeared to be explosives in his home this Friday (4).

In the letters, sent to authorities and media outlets, the 48-year-old stated that his opposition to fossil fuels motivated the attacks, Herbert Reul, interior minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said during a press conference.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who participated in the same interview, stated that the evidence pointed to a case of "climate extremism".

The country this week became the center of European concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, on the eve of a highly anticipated state election on Sunday (6), in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party leads the polls.

Germany also formally held Russia responsible this week for an August drone strike at Leipzig/Halle airport, calling it part of a hybrid war aimed at intimidating and dividing countries that have supported Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia has rejected the accusations as unfounded.

There are still questions to be asked about the sabotage of the power grid, including whether the wanted man really is guilty and whether he acted alone, Reul said. German authorities have also not ruled out the possibility that the attacks were sponsored by a foreign state or carried out by left-wing extremists.

"We are currently facing a number of different threats and risks at the same time. Sabotage, cyberattacks, clandestine operations, extremism and state terrorism — we are under threat from all of these dangers simultaneously," said Dobrindt.

According to him, the threats faced by Germany and the number of attacks have increased and will likely continue to grow — both in the case of state terrorism and extremism.

"It is possible that these two factors are interconnected," he said.

His ministry had previously stated that it was no coincidence that these "hybrid attacks" were occurring on the eve of Sunday's election.

The suspect claimed responsibility for an attack on Tuesday against a substation in Bergheim, near Cologne, which took five power generation units out of operation after conductive material was apparently thrown onto the high-voltage infrastructure, causing a short circuit.

Police later found several launch devices nearby.

The second sabotage attempt claimed by the wanted man was discovered on Thursday night (3) in Dormagen, south of Düsseldorf, where a passerby spotted pipes equipped with cables and timers pointing towards a substation. Police then found two launch devices in the region.

Reul said the letters mentioned other targets, including a substation in Weisweiler, near the western city of Aachen.

As the ministers spoke, the Bild newspaper reported that possible explosives or incendiary devices were also found in transmission lines at two substations in Saxony's Görlitz district, prompting a police raid on facilities linked to the Lusatian lignite mining and power generation region.

In another sabotage incident this week, devices containing conductive material damaged transmission lines at one of the most critical high-voltage connection points in the eastern state of Brandenburg. The police did not rule out links between this case and those claimed by the man.