Two arrested over attempted sabotage of German naval vessels

Two suspects have been arrested over the attempted sabotage of German naval vessels docked at the Port of Hamburg last year.

The pair are suspected of deactivating electronic safety switches, removing fuel tank caps, puncturing water supply lines, and dumping more than 20kg (44.1lb) of abrasive gravel into a ship's engine.

"If gone undetected, the acts would have caused major damage to the ships and delayed their departure, endangering the operations of the German Navy," the EU's Eurojust crime agency said in a statement.

The suspects are a 37-year-old Romanian man and a 54-year-old Greek man who worked at the port, according to local media reports.

The suspects were arrested in Germany and in Greece on Tuesday following a coordinated effort between German, Greek and Romanian authorities.

Officers also searched and seized evidence from the suspects' homes in Germany, Greece and Romania, Eurojust said.

An investigation into the full circumstances around the incident is ongoing, the agency added.

While officials in Germany have not explicitly linked the Hamburg incident to Russia, the arrests come amid heightened fears over Kremlin-backed sabotage across the continent.

Germany and other Nato countries have seen a string of suspected sabotage incidents since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Undersea communications cables in the Baltic have been damaged, and suspected drone activity has caused major disruption at airports and military bases.

Though some European governments have directly accused Russia of involvement, the Kremlin has consistently denied orchestrating sabotage operations.

Germany has sought to increase its resilience to potential sabotage after an arson attack, which was previously linked to left-wing activists, left tens of thousands without power earlier this year.