Germany arrests suspect in string of power substation attacks

German police have detained 48-year-old Daniel W., suspected of orchestrating a series of attacks on electrical substations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Brandenburg. The man was spotted and stopped during a vehicle check near the Weisweiler power plant close to Aachen, according to German outlet Bild.

Per the report, the suspect offered no resistance during the arrest. He had previously sent two letters claiming responsibility for the attacks on energy facilities across Germany. The press has already dubbed him the "power grid terrorist."

Manhunt and searches

Police had been searching for the suspect since September 3. Last week, investigators searched a vehicle converted into living quarters near the Hambach Forst open-pit mine, where the man was believed to have been hiding.

Even before that search, his apartment in the town of Gevelsberg (North Rhine-Westphalia) had already been checked. According to the state's Interior Minister Herbert Reul, officers found several items resembling explosive materials there. Documents seized from the apartment also allowed investigators to compare the suspect's handwriting with that found in the letters claiming responsibility for the sabotage. The minister said the handwriting matched.

A wave of attacks on energy facilities

Last Tuesday, a substation near the Jänschwalde power plant in Brandenburg was targeted — struck with homemade devices resembling New Year's fireworks. On the same day, a substation in Bergheim near Cologne was attacked, where police found a possible launching device and pyrotechnics.

On Thursday, a similar device was found near a substation in Dormagen, between Cologne and Düsseldorf. And on Friday evening, it emerged that in Saxony's Lusatian lignite mining region near the border with Brandenburg, incendiary and explosive devices had been discovered at two substations.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz