Mystery Letter Claims German Power Sabotage

German newspaper taz has received a letter claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on an electrical substation near Jänschwalde in Brandenburg. The handwritten letter was sent from North Rhine-Westphalia, according to its postmark.

The author denounced electricity generation from fossil fuels as “a crime that causes immense suffering” and wrote that he wanted to prevent or alleviate that suffering. The letter contained identifying details about the alleged sender, which taz described as highly unusual.

When taz journalists visited the address given in the letter, they found a relative who recognized the handwriting but knew nothing about the attack or the man’s current whereabouts. Taz said it had been unable to establish conclusively whether the author had actually carried out the attack or whether someone was deliberately creating a false lead.

The letter describes in detail how homemade rockets were constructed using pipes, rods, fireworks and timers to fire thin steel cables at high-voltage power lines. The cables were intended to ground the lines and cause short circuits. According to the letter, one device apparently succeeded near Jänschwalde without causing a power outage, while around 20 others failed to take off.

The author also claimed that high-voltage power lines had been attacked at two other locations in Brandenburg and one in Saxony. Brandenburg police and energy company LEAG, which operates the nearby Jänschwalde power plant, declined to comment on those claims.

(tasr, taz, bild)