Attacks on power plants: Suspected electricity terrorist Daniel V. caught

Police have arrested Daniel V., the man believed to be behind a series of attacks on the German power grid. According to authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia, he was caught near the Weisweiler power plant in Eschweiler. Officers found explosive devices on his person that appeared to be similar to those used in other attacks on substations last week. Many questions about this remain open.

V. is now credited with at least four attacks on the German electricity infrastructure, all of which used hand-built rockets that were triggered by timed fuses and equipped with long wires. Shot into the power lines of substations, this should cause a grounding and thus a short circuit.

This worked at least partially in the first two attempts: On Tuesday, September 1st, a rocket caused a short circuit at a substation in Jänschwalde, Brandenburg. Part of a nearby coal-fired power plant had to be shut down. However, the power grid remained stable, just as it did after a similar attack on a power plant near Cologne on the evening of the same day.

There were also further attempted attacks, which the police were able to prevent. For example, launchers were found in Dormagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Friday and in Graustein, Saxony, on Saturday. There are media reports that there was at least one other attempted attack in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The arrest was preceded by a large police manhunt that lasted for days, during which the authorities also published photos of V. On Sunday, a large police force searched parts of the Hambach Forest, near which V. was actually found.

V. had attracted the attention of the authorities by sending several letters of confession, first one to the taz and two days later another to the police themselves. As a justification for the attacks, V. wrote that generating electricity in coal-fired power plants was “a crime” that “results in unspeakable suffering.” Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) recently spoke of suspected “climate terrorism” by a lone perpetrator.

However, there are certainly doubts about V.'s sole responsibility as well as about his alleged motivation. Experts had described it as very unusual that V. gave his name and address in the letter of confession. He also used conspicuously few words to justify his attacks, as politically motivated perpetrators almost always do. And individual formulations, such as a positive reference to “law and order”, do not really fit with the climate-conscious, left-wing motive for the crime that V. otherwise claims in the letter.

Also striking: The series of attacks began last week almost simultaneously with a public statement from the federal government that the Russian government was responsible for a drone attack on Leipzig Airport at the beginning of August. Since then, Germany and Russia have imposed sanctions on each other.

So far little is known about V. himself. He is 48 years old and has a medical degree. Most recently he is said to have been unemployed and living with his mother in Gevelsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. After the letter of confession was received by the taz, an editor spoke to the mother last week. She confirmed that the handwriting of the letter of confession was her son's and also said that her son had a great sense of justice but sometimes overstepped the mark.

With V.'s arrest, there is now hope that many of the open questions about the attacks can be quickly clarified.