Erbil Basay
27 January 2026•Update: 27 January 2026
BERLIN
German federal prosecutors have offered a €1 million ($1.1 million) reward for tip-offs leading to the arrest of those responsible for an attack earlier this month on high-voltage cables in Berlin, Iris Spranger, the Senator for Interior Affairs for the German capital, confirmed Monday.
Speaking at a session of the Berlin State Parliament's Interior Committee, Spranger verified reports that the Federal Prosecutor's Office had announced the reward for concrete information related to the sabotage of power cables.
She said the federal government considered the amount appropriate, describing it as an exceptional measure.
"This is a one-off case. I cannot recall the federal government ever offering a reward of this magnitude under similar circumstances," she added.
The unusually high reward aims to help identify those responsible for the arson attack and to obtain decisive information that could lead to solving the case, Spranger said, characterizing the incident as a "terrorist act."
The Jan. 3 attack caused one of the longest power outages in Berlin since World War II.
Around 100,000 residents in the city's southwest were affected, with roughly 50,000 households left without electricity and heating for several days.
Stromnetz Berlin, the operator of Berlin's electricity network, was able to fully restore power to all customers only on the fifth day after the attack.
The far-left extremist "Volkan Group" later claimed responsibility for the sabotage.
Meanwhile, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced that it had launched an investigation into the incident on suspicion of terrorism.
