The investigations into the far-reaching sabotage of German rail traffic continue. In Berlin, she has now taken over the state protection at the State Criminal Police Office (LKA). According to a spokeswoman for the Berlin police, a political background cannot be ruled out. However, investigations are carried out in all directions. There is no official information on the possible perpetrators and their motives.
On Saturday, unknown persons destroyed important Deutsche Bahn communication cables in Berlin and also in North Rhine-Westphalia. As a result, rail traffic in northern Germany came to a standstill for several hours because communication between the control centers that control train traffic and the trains was no longer possible. Countless passengers were stranded at the major train stations. Long queues formed at information desks. According to Deutsche Bahn, train traffic returned to normal on Sunday.
One crime scene each in Berlin and NRW
There are many indications of a targeted attack. According to a spokesman for the Federal Police Headquarters in Berlin, there was a crime scene in the federal capital and another in North Rhine-Westphalia. Security circles said that in both cases so-called fiber optic cables were intentionally damaged. The backup system also failed.
According to estimates from security circles, the procedure requires insider knowledge about the railway. The fact that no claim has been made so far speaks against perpetrators from the left-wing extremist scene, to whom attacks on the railways have been attributed in the past. The “Bild” newspaper reported on Sunday that the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) also considered state sabotage to be conceivable in an internal assessment. BKA and the Federal Ministry of the Interior did not comment on the report when asked.
Security expert: Attack by Russia possible
The security expert Peter Neumann considers a Russian attack on the critical infrastructure in Germany to be possible. “Russia has an interest in causing panic in Europe and signaling that it can paralyze life very violently,” the scientist told RTL. It takes significant knowledge to attack these nodes. However, there is of course no clear evidence. “Right now it’s still a theory.”
According to a report, the SPD is considering giving the federal police more powers. “The threat level is high. The acts of sabotage on our infrastructure have made this very clear again,” said parliamentary group leader Dirk Wiese of the “Rheinische Post”. It is therefore important “that our security authorities have the necessary investigative powers. In particular, we must now get a modern federal police law in the Bundestag very quickly.” The last reform was in 1994 and a lot has changed since then. In 2021, a reform of the Federal Police Act failed in the Bundesrat.
