German investigators carried out nationwide searches Tuesday in connection with a suspected arson attack on high-voltage power infrastructure that left about 50,000 Berlin customers without electricity last September. The raids followed an inquiry into the destruction of cables that supply the Adlershof Technology Park in the Johannisthal area of southeast Berlin.
Berlin prosecutors said 18 searches were executed across the country targeting suspects whose identities are known to investigators. Berlin’s interior senator, Iris Spranger, said authorities treat attacks on critical infrastructure as attacks on the city’s security and will pursue all leads with the highest priority.
In the September 2025 incident unknown perpetrators destroyed high-voltage cables feeding the technology park. A claim circulated in left-wing circles and investigators suspect extremist involvement. The blackout affected businesses and care facilities: the state-owned grid operator Stromnetz reported around 50,000 customers lost power, companies later estimated damage between €30 million and €70 million, and five residents from two nursing homes were temporarily moved to hospital.
Six months after the sabotage, police searched apartments and other premises in multiple locations across Berlin and in three other federal states, acting on information obtained by dpa. About 500 officers were reportedly deployed, with many positioned outside buildings linked to the left-wing scene. Officials were seen seizing laptops, and a far-left anarchist library in Kreuzberg was among the sites targeted.
The German police union said security services believe they know who the main figures in the hard-line faction are, but stressed it remains extremely difficult to prove individuals carried out arson attacks like those in Johannisthal or in Zehlendorf.
Separately, prosecutors are also investigating a January attack claimed by a far-left group calling itself the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group). That incident cut power to roughly 45,000 Berlin homes for nearly a week during an unusually harsh winter and prompted a terror probe.
Edited by Wesley Dockery