German police act at substations after sabotage attacks, make no arrests

Police launched a major operation today at a substation near Wuppertal in western Germany after reports of a suspicious person in the area. They made no arrests. Police also carried out operations at other locations around the country, including near the Weisweiler power plant not far from Aachen, where they found several explosive devices by a high-voltage line, the DPA news agency reported. Germany has faced a series of acts of sabotage at electricity substations in recent days.

A spokesperson for the police in Cologne said the operation near Wuppertal began in the morning and was connected to a search. He declined to give further details. DPA noted that German police have been searching for several days for 48-year-old Daniel V. from Gevelsberg in western Germany, whom Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described as a climate activist. He claimed responsibility for the sabotage in letters.

Police in Wuppertal said witnesses had spotted a suspicious person with a backpack near a substation in nearby Remscheid. It is not clear, however, whether it could have been the man they are looking for. “We will find that out once we locate this person, which has not happened yet,” a Wuppertal police spokesperson said.

A police helicopter also took part in today’s operation, circling over the area between Remscheid and Wuppertal. According to DPA, a major police operation was also carried out today at a substation in Wesel, north of Düsseldorf and Wuppertal.

The operation in Weisweiler led to the closure of that stretch of the A4 motorway in both directions. Police said the operation was still under way at the site, but the motorway was reopened to traffic in the evening. Police had also received a report of a suspicious person near the power plant there.

Police, who released no further details, appealed to the public for any footage from CCTV cameras or camera traps.

On Sunday evening, police found a cut security fence at a substation in Wesel, in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The media have speculated that the cases may be linked to several acts of sabotage at substations last week. A substation near the Jänschwalde power plant in Brandenburg was targeted in an act of sabotage last Tuesday, followed by attacks on substations in Bergheim and Dormagen in western Germany. Investigators also found a total of 21 homemade explosive devices at two locations in eastern Saxony, which police said were intended to cause a short circuit.