Prosecutors in Saxony, eastern Germany, said Monday that investigators have now recovered 21 explosive devices in connection with suspected attacks targeting the country’s electricity grid, a case that has kept security services on heightened alert for several days.
According to a joint statement from police and prosecutors, nine more homemade explosive devices were located over the weekend near high-voltage power lines south of the Graustein substation in the eastern district of Goerlitz, bringing the overall number found during the investigation to 21.
The discoveries come as Germany remains at the center of wider European concerns over the security of critical infrastructure. Alarm has grown following a string of suspected sabotage incidents involving the power grid last week, as well as an August drone attack at Leipzig/Halle that the German government has formally attributed to Russia.
On Friday, German police said they were hunting for a man who allegedly sent letters claiming responsibility for several of last week’s power grid sabotage attacks. Authorities said they later found what appeared to be explosive materials at his residence. The suspect remains on the run.
Meanwhile, early findings related to a fire at a Berlin transformer substation on Monday suggest the incident was triggered by a technical fault rather than sabotage, Spiegel reported, citing Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik Meisel. Police had previously said the fire was under investigation.
In a separate case, Bild reported that police in the western German city of Wesel began a large-scale assessment operation after discovering that the security fence around another transformer substation had been cut open.
