Suspected perpetrator arrested after attacks on electricity infrastructure

According to State Interior Minister Armin Schuster, the explosive devices found on high-voltage lines in Saxony could have led to regional power outages. If the suspected perpetrator, who has since been arrested, had been successful, the dimension could have achieved regional blackout qualities, said the CDU politician. “That would have been possible.”

The North Rhine-Westphalia police arrested the suspected perpetrator in the morning near the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen. The Cottbus public prosecutor's office had issued an arrest warrant for the man. According to police, he did not resist his arrest and had additional explosives with him. In addition, emergency services found a tent in the undergrowth near the Weisweiler power plant that was equipped with additional explosives.

After the arrest, Brandenburg's Interior Minister Jan Redmann announced comprehensive consequences. He also spoke of a “misguided individual perpetrator”. "It takes more than one chaotic person to plunge Germany into chaos," said the CDU politician. “But we must also be clear: a misguided individual perpetrator is just one of many threat scenarios that we have to arm ourselves against.”

Several explosive devices found

In East Saxony, the police discovered a total of 21 pyrotechnic explosive devices on high-voltage lines on Friday and Saturday. According to Schuster, these were designed in such a way that they could pull a wire over the high-voltage cables in order to create short circuits. Some of the devices had already been ignited. However, apart from some burnt grass, there was no significant damage.

Further explosive devices were discovered in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg. In two cases these served their purpose: In Bergheim, west of Cologne, a short circuit shut down several units of a power plant for a few days. There were two short circuits in the Turnow-Preilack substation in Brandenburg near the Jänschwalde power plant. However, there were no power outages in either case.

“He wanted to carry on”

According to North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), the suspect intended to continue his attacks. »He was still on the move and wanted to carry on. This game ended today,” said Reul in Duisburg. "At the moment everything suggests that it was a lone perpetrator and that everything was out of his hands."

Indications that the 48-year-old may have psychological problems or have been paid are "reading coffee grounds." However, he does not yet know how he expressed himself during the interrogation, said Reul. His arrest was thanks to an attentive police officer who found the man suspicious.