Crime & Public Safety
Germany hunts climate activist over grid sabotage
German authorities were searching Friday for a 48-year-old man suspected of attacks and attempted attacks on the power grid, and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the case appeared to involve climate extremism.
“We must assume that this is a case of climate extremism,” Dobrindt told journalists.
German media named the suspect as Daniel V. Officials said he sent letters claiming responsibility for acts targeting electricity infrastructure. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said police found suspicious substances and suspected explosive materials or devices during searches of the suspect's apartment in Gevelsberg, in western Germany.
Bild reported that a heavily armed elite police team stormed a truck in Hambach Forest in North Rhine-Westphalia that was suspected of belonging to the activist, but failed to apprehend him.
Authorities said the attacks followed a similar pattern, using firework-like devices to shoot wires at overhead cables at substations in an apparent attempt to cause short circuits and cut power from nearby coal-fired power plants. No major outages occurred, although some generating units were taken off the grid for a time.
Officials said one attack happened Tuesday morning at a substation in eastern Brandenburg state, damaging power cables and briefly disrupting supply. Another attack later Tuesday targeted a substation in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Reul said the letters contained detailed descriptions of attack plans and were presumed to be authentic. He said the author cited the fight against fossil fuels as his motive, but said attacks on critical infrastructure were crimes with no ideological justification.
Germany has faced other attacks on the power grid recently. In January, an arson attack on high-voltage cables in Berlin caused an electricity outage that left tens of thousands of homes and thousands of businesses without power for nearly a week. The far-left Vulkangruppe claimed responsibility for that attack.
Update
German media named the suspect as Daniel V.
Bild reported that an armed elite police team stormed a truck in Hambach Forest suspected of belonging to the activist but failed to apprehend him.
Officials said the suspect's letters also confessed to planning further attacks, and devices to launch small rockets were found at other locations.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 September 2026 at 17:17:46 UTC.
Update
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said letters sent to security officials and media contained precise details and were presumed authentic.
Officials said the letter writer cited the fight against fossil fuels as the motive.
Officials said suspected explosive materials were found during searches of the suspect's home in Gevelsberg.
The latest account says several attacks and attempted attacks occurred in North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg, with no major power cuts.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 September 2026 at 16:17:38 UTC.
Update
German authorities said they are hunting a 48-year-old suspect.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said authorities must assume the case involves climate extremism.
Officials said the man is thought to have sent a letter confessing to the acts.
Officials said suspected explosive materials were found during a search of the man's home.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 September 2026 at 15:49:06 UTC.
Update
A minister said a suspect in Germany's power grid sabotage case is a climate activist.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 September 2026 at 15:30:26 UTC.
Update
Investigators found six launchers in a field next to the Bergheim substation, according to senior detective Michael Esser.
Investigators suspect the launchers were built to fire pyrotechnic devices carrying a wire over power lines to cause a short circuit.
A wire used in the Bergheim attack was set alight and damaged a fence, and witnesses saw brief flashes of light, according to investigators.
Source note: AFP news report published on 2 September 2026 at 14:01:26 UTC.
Update
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said officials were probing whether the Bergheim attack was directed by a foreign state or left-wing extremism.
Officials said the Bergheim perpetrators were suspected of placing conductive material on overhead power lines to cause a short circuit.
Germany formally blamed Russia the same day for an attempted hybrid attack involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig airport last month and announced diplomatic counter-measures.
Reul said authorities were trying to determine whether the Brandenburg and Bergheim attacks were linked.
Source note: AFP news report published on 2 September 2026 at 11:14:23 UTC.
Update
German police said the terrorism investigation concerns an attack on an electricity substation near a coal-fired power plant in eastern Germany.
Authorities said a second substation incident in North Rhine-Westphalia knocked out power on some cables and was being investigated on suspicion of sabotage.
Source note: AFP news report published on 2 September 2026 at 09:55:52 UTC.
Update
German police said they were launching a terrorism investigation over the substation attack.
Source note: AFP news report published on 2 September 2026 at 09:34:47 UTC.
Update
Amprion said external interference at the affected substation was highly likely.
RWE said five power-generating units at two coal-fired plants in the region were knocked out by the disruption.
RWE said three units were expected to return online later Wednesday and two others at the weekend.
The item adds that a separate sabotage attack using improvised explosives damaged lines near a substation southeast of Berlin a day earlier.
Source note: AFP news report published on 2 September 2026 at 08:12:09 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The suspect had not been apprehended at the time described.
Responsibility for the attacks is based on official suspicion and letters officials believe to be authentic.
Source
AFP news report published on .