The perpetrators attempted to set fire to the electrical substation in the city of Erkrath in North Rhine-Westphalia, but it continued to operate without interruptions, the prosecutor's office reports, writes DW.
Unknown individuals attempted to set fire to an electrical substation in the city of Erkrath, located in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This was reported on its website by the public-law media company WDR on the evening of Wednesday, January 7, citing the Wuppertal prosecutor's office.
It is specified that the attention of investigators was drawn to a letter from the likely perpetrators - a group called Kommando Angry Birds - published on the leftist platform indymedia. After examining it, the police conducted a check at the Erkrath substation. The attempt to set fire was confirmed to journalists by prosecutor Wolf-Tilman Baumert.
Attack on critical infrastructure
Apparently, the attackers aimed to cut off power to the industrial area on Max-Planck-Straße in Erkrath. According to the letter from the perpetrators, they attempted to ignite one of the two transformers at the substation. However, according to the prosecutor's office, the attack failed: the substation continued to operate without interruptions.
According to prosecutor Baumert, the arson was an attack on critical infrastructure. "If it had succeeded, there could have been a large-scale power outage," he explained in an interview with WDR.
The investigation into the incident has been taken over by the state protection police department (Staatsschutz) in Düsseldorf, which specializes in combating politically motivated crimes.
