Flat Grass Gives Away Electricity Saboteur

It was just some trampled grass along a dirt road. But for two young police officers, that was the crucial clue that led to the arrest on Tuesday of the 48-year-old suspected energy attacker, who had been sought across Europe.

Although they were not even involved in the large-scale manhunt, the two highway patrol officers found the suspect’s hiding place and arrested him. One of the officers even turned on his body camera. The German Press Agency was able to view the footage.

The footage shows the two young officers following a trail in the grass and coming across a man in the bushes about 200 meters off the path. One officer draws his gun and orders the man to lie down on the ground. The man offers no resistance and follows all instructions. He immediately admitted to being the suspect, the officers later reported. Then the handcuffs clicked into place.

For days, the attacks on the power grid in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, and Saxony had been making headlines in the media and prompted a large-scale police operation. The manhunt has now come to an end in some bushes about 800 meters from the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen.

The tent was well camouflaged in some bushes

The bodycam footage pans to the side. You can see a tent that the 48-year-old had set up and camouflaged in some bushes. The police had searched the area with helicopters and drones—but due to the effective camouflage, the tent was not visible from the air, explains operation commander Frank Wißbaum in response to a query from the German Press Agency.

Although the 48-year-old had drastically altered his appearance, police experts were quickly certain that he was indeed the suspect they had been searching for over the past several days.

“The two young officers did a really good job from a forensic standpoint,” Wißbaum praised. Up to 1,700 officers were deployed for several days in the manhunt for the 48-year-old. Ultimately, it was the vigilance and intuition of the two young officers that led to the arrest.

The manhunt was a puzzle for the police

Wißbaum coordinated the large-scale operation from the Cologne Police Headquarters. Time and again, he and his colleagues on the command staff had to consider what kind of suspect they were dealing with and how they could track him down.

Looking back, the incident commander explains that many pieces didn’t fit together: On the one hand, there were the crime scenes where the 48-year-old is alleged to have used homemade rockets to shoot thin wires across high-voltage power lines in order to short-circuit them: these were located in Brandenburg and Saxony on the one hand, and in the Rhenish lignite mining region on the other. More than 700 kilometers separate these locations. That is rather atypical for a lone perpetrator.

Added to this were the letters of claim that the alleged perpetrator had sent to several media outlets, signed with his real name. “Such an approach is very rare. It was clear to us: The perpetrator wanted to be recognized and found,” says Wißbaum. “But why?”

The trail led to the Hambach Forest

The police developed suspect profiles and formulated various hypotheses about what the 48-year-old might be planning next. One of these theories was that the man might join the climate activists in the Hambach Forest. In the forest, which was occupied years ago by climate activists in the fight against lignite-fired power generation, a few people still live in treehouses today.

This was consistent with the fact that on Friday, officers found the conspicuous camper van nearby that the 48-year-old had previously been driving. “He didn’t hide the vehicle; he practically paraded it right there in the parking lot. That, too, showed us once again: He wants to draw attention to himself,” reports Wißbaum.

That was the reason why several hundred officers combed through the Hambach Forest last weekend. But they did not find the 48-year-old there.

Sudden Appearance of New Launching Devices at the Weisweiler Power Plant

The next concrete lead regarding the suspect came last Monday, when new launching devices appeared at the Weisweiler power plant near Aachen—along with a third letter claiming responsibility. In it, the 48-year-old referred to several recent developments, media reports, and the investigation. “It was clear: He had been following everything. He was, so to speak, following our every move.”

Because the officers assumed that the 48-year-old was no longer traveling by vehicle, the manhunt focused on the area around the Weisweiler power plant starting on Monday.

On Monday evening around 9:00 p.m., while the police operation was still underway, another rocket suddenly detonated. It did not reach the high-voltage power line it was aimed at and caused no damage, says Wißbaum.

Highway Patrol Officers Make a Crucial Discovery

At daybreak on Tuesday, several hundred officers continued the search around the power plant. But the crucial observation was ultimately made by the two highway patrol officers, who weren’t even assigned to the manhunt for the 48-year-old. Next to the A4, they discovered trampled grass that led them to the suspect.

The operation was nerve-wracking for the police, emphasizes Cologne Police Chief Johannes Hermanns. Especially because one large-scale operation follows another in the cathedral city. “We hadn’t even had time to catch our breath before the next operation came along.”

In the end, from the police’s perspective, everything went very well, summarizes operations commander Wißbaum. “My mission was: Catch the perpetrator. We succeeded in doing so through an outstanding team effort.”