The German federal government is offering a reward of one million euros for information that could lead to the capture of the perpetrators of the deliberate damage to the power grid in Berlin. The incident caused a five-day power outage for tens of thousands of households in the first days of the year, reports Focus.
According to the Berlin-Brandenburg radio and television (rbb), the record-breaking size of the reward underlines the importance that the authorities attach to the case, but also shows that the investigation has not yet led to specific suspects. The far-left organization Vulkan, which has previously sabotaged electricity supplies, although on a much smaller scale, claimed responsibility for the attack.
After the incident, both the Berlin city authorities and the federal government were heavily criticized for their poor protection of critical infrastructure. The reward is also a sign of the growing concern about the security of such sites.
For comparison, a reward of 100,000 euros was offered after the terrorist truck attack on the Berlin Christmas market in 2016, and in 2019 the authorities announced 500,000 euros for information related to the Dresden museum robbery. In this context, the current amount is unprecedented for Germany.