After the suspected arson attack on a substation in Reutlingen On the night of Sunday to Monday, an investigative group from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and the State Protection Center tried to clarify the background to the crime and collect information about suspected perpetrators.
So far there is only evidence that the action was deliberate: the substation fence showed clear damage after the fire. According to the LKA, aids to accelerate the fire were also used on the site. The Stuttgart General Public Prosecutor’s Office is now talking about arson and is looking for “one or more as yet unknown perpetrators” who are said to have entered the substation premises. According to the current state of the investigation, they are also said to have used fire accelerants.
Investigators believe an extremist background is likely. It must now be determined whether the crime was carried out by an extremist individual perpetrator or possibly controlled by a left-wing extremist group or a foreign service. A letter of responsibility is not yet available.
In Reutlingen there is only a manageable and small militant left-wing extremist scene; the situation is different in the university town of Tübingen, 16 kilometers away. According to the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there are only a few left-wing extremists known to the authorities in Reutlingen; the Office for the Protection of the Constitution speaks of a low double-digit number.
The LKA has published a call for witnesses
State Interior Minister Manuel Hagel (CDU) reported on the incident, the relief measures and the status of the investigation at the cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Cem Ozdemir (Greens) said that as a politician you would be wise to let the police do the investigative work before drawing conclusions from the fire in the Reutlingen substation.
“We are being attacked and possibly threatened from within. The perpetrators’ aim is apparently to ensure that the failure of the network infrastructure leads to supply outages,” said Özdemir. The country’s infrastructure is being adapted to this situation. “Given the extensive infrastructure, 100% protection of the power grid cannot be guaranteed,” said the Prime Minister. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) said there were “indications” that it was an arson attack; In doing so, he established a connection to the left-wing scene.
In Reutlingen and the surrounding areas, the power supply worked again from Tuesday morning. Households in the municipality of Wannweil and the small town of Kirchentellinsfurt were also reliably supplied with electricity again; Only in the “Mark West” industrial area were there still supply bottlenecks.
The state parliament member Max Menton (CDU) told the FAZ that the damage to the fence at the substation showed deliberate action. The activities of militant left-wing extremists in the region are very difficult to assess. The Public Prosecutor’s Office published a call for witnesses with the State Criminal Police Office: The request is for citizens who observed and possibly filmed suspicious people or cars in the area of the Reutlingen-West substation on Markwiesenstrasse or in the neighboring regions on the night from Sunday to Monday.
