Germany Offers €1m Bounty As Police Hunt Berlin Blackout Suspects
German authorities have announced a one-million-euro reward for information leading to the arrest of suspected far-left militants accused of carrying out an arson attack that triggered a major power outage in Berlin, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Tuesday.
The attack, which occurred in early January, plunged parts of southwest Berlin into darkness, cutting electricity to about 45,000 households and nearly 2,200 businesses. Power was not fully restored for almost a week, during one of the coldest periods of winter.
Investigators are searching for members of the far-left group known as “Vulkangruppe” (Volcano Group), which claimed responsibility for the blackout in a series of online statements. Authorities have described the messages as credible.
Dobrindt said the scale of the reward reflects the seriousness of the incident. He added that the government was determined to respond firmly to what he described as a significant security threat.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said the Vulkangruppe has been active since 2011 and is suspected of involvement in several arson attacks in and around Berlin. The group has also claimed responsibility for two separate sabotage attacks on facilities linked to electric carmaker Tesla near the capital.
Police plan to roll out a public awareness campaign to encourage tips from the public, including the distribution of posters and leaflets across Berlin’s subway network highlighting the reward.
Dobrindt, a conservative ally of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said the government would commit additional resources to tackling left-wing extremism. He also called for expanded police powers, including greater use of facial recognition technology and broader access to digital data in criminal investigations.
