Germany arrests 48-year-old suspected in attacks on power grid
Police detained a 48-year-old near the Weisweiler plant and link him to attempted short circuits and responsibility letters.
German police have arrested a 48-year-old man suspected of a string of deliberate attacks on the country’s electricity network, authorities said on September 8, 2026. The suspect was detained Tuesday near the Weisweiler thermal power plant outside Aachen, reportedly carrying additional explosive devices and offering no resistance.
Investigators link devices and claim letters to one suspect
Officials in Cologne said the man — a resident of Gefelsberg in the southern Ruhr area — was sought in connection with attempted sabotage at sites across North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony. Investigators believe the suspect tried to use homemade rockets to create short circuits on high-voltage transmission lines.
The most recent discovery came on Monday, when police found multiple launcher devices beside a high-voltage line near the Weisweiler plant, close to the location where the arrest later took place. Authorities also recovered a letter claiming responsibility for the attacks; investigators say they regard the correspondence as authentic and have linked it to the detained man.
At least two of the incidents appear to have had tangible effects. In Bergheim, west of Cologne, short circuits put several blocks at a power station out of service for days. Near the Jänschwalde power plant in Brandenburg, two short circuits were recorded at the Turnow-Preilack substation after more than 20 homemade rockets reportedly expelled conductive material onto high-voltage wires.
Despite these episodes, the police and grid operators say there were no interruptions to electricity supply in either of the two cases. Authorities describe the campaign as a case of “climate terrorism.” Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), Germany’s interior minister, said that, based on current findings, the incidents are “climate terrorism” carried out by a single perpetrator.
Letters connected to the sabotage reportedly defended the actions as opposition to fossil-fuel electricity production. “The production of electricity from fossil fuels is a crime,” the correspondence stated. The three affected federal states continue to extract and produce electricity from lignite (brown coal), which investigators say is the motive cited in the letters.
Photo: press material from the event
