Ten thousand people living near a military base in western Germany were told Thursday night not to drink tap water as authorities investigated a case of possible sabotage at a water supply facility.
The warning came after a cut fence was discovered at the water storage facility in the Mechernich area near Bonn. The all-clear was finally given on Friday morning, although residents were urged to boil their water before drinking it.
A day earlier, an air base near Cologne-Bonn airport was closed for hours after “abnormal water values” were found in the water supply.
Separately, NATO reported an attempted intrusion into its base in Geilenkirchen, near the Dutch border.
The extent of the sabotage in the three incidents is still unclear, although the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, are on heightened alert due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
NATO’s Awac reconnaissance aircraft are based in Geilenkirchen, and the Cologne-Wahn base, near the main regional airport, is home to the highest echelons of the German Air Force, as well as aircraft used by ministers for foreign travel.
More than 5,000 soldiers and civilians are said to be working at the Cologne-Wahn base. Although the outer fence was not tampered with, a hole was found in the fence near the barracks’ water supply.
No one has yet been arrested for any of the three alleged sabotage incidents.
Residents of Mechernich and surrounding towns and villages quickly stocked up on bottled water on Thursday evening as firefighters drove through the area warning people not to use tap water for drinking, showering or preparing food, regional public broadcaster WDR reported.
Military officials are taking the latest incidents very seriously. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said this week, even before the series of panics, that Germany was facing an increased risk of Russian sabotage.
“The threats we need to protect ourselves against range from espionage, sabotage and cyber attacks to state terrorism,” she told Handelsblatt newspaper on Monday, explaining that Ukrainian advances on Russian territory could increase the threat.
German-supplied Marder armored vehicles are apparently being used by the Ukrainians in the Kursk region.
Germany is the second largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the US, reserving approximately €28 billion (£24 billion) since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, according to recent figures.
Just last month, the country’s domestic intelligence agency (Verfassungschutz) warned of an increased risk of sabotage activities and reports surfaced of an alleged Russian plot to assassinate the head of Germany’s largest arms company, Rheinmetall.
Last April, two people with dual German-Russian nationality were arrested in the southwestern state of Bavaria on suspicion of plotting sabotage attacks on military or industrial targets.
