It would be a huge coincidence that two heavy, large and expensive forestry machines would burst into flames at the same time, but far apart from each other, due to technical defects. That’s why the Munich police are more likely to assume that the most recent cases were arson – especially since they fit into the pattern of a suspected series of around twenty attacks that have been bothering the security authorities since May. Infrastructure facilities or vehicles belonging to municipal or state-owned companies were always affected, not only in the greater Munich area but throughout Upper Bavaria. No one was injured, but the damage now amounts to several million euros.
After the police had already reported two fire cases in the early hours of the morning on Monday, they filed another case on Tuesday: the day before, shortly after seven o’clock, the officers reported a vehicle on fire in Forstenrieder Park, south of the Neuried district. been informed. Like the burning vehicle discovered around the same time in the Harlaching part of the Perlach Forest, it was a so-called harvester, a machine used to fell and remove branches from trees. On Monday morning, a fire was discovered in a cable shaft on a temporary footbridge on the Ludwigsbrücke.
Responsibility for all three cases has been taken over by the “Raute” investigation group (EG), which the Munich police headquarters put together just a few weeks ago to investigate similar cases. The EG Raute works with colleagues from the Upper Bavaria South Presidium in Rosenheim and specialists from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office. The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has now become involved in the investigation; Bavaria’s central office for combating extremism and terrorism is installed there.
The series probably began on May 19th, when two electric cars belonging to the municipal utility were set on fire at a charging station near the southern thermal power plant. There was a fire in Forstenrieder Park and Perlacher Forest last summer. Once it was a cell phone mast, in another place it was a car and, as now again, a machine for the forestry company.
It is not yet known who is behind the alleged series of attacks. Currently, not a single letter of responsibility has been published in the relevant Internet forums.