Explosive devices on high-voltage lines: arrest in North Rhine-Westphalia

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

Several explosive devices detonated, but no damage

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.

48-year-old arrested near Aachen

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.