Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: US investigators have sought public support to identify people who were involved in the vandalism of power substations after the power breakdown following devastating storms.
Investigators appealed for the public’s assistance in finding those responsible for the attacks, which could lead to backlash from right-wing extremist groups.
Around 14,000 people in Tacoma, a port city just south of Seattle, lost power on Christmas Day, but local authorities did not say whom they believed to be responsible for the attack on substations.
Attack on substations
In a statement, Tacoma Public Utilities, which controls two of the facilities that were attacked on Sunday, said that federal law enforcement had informed them of grid threats in early December.
On Tuesday, the Pierce County Sheriff’s office appealed to people living near the damaged substations to look at the surveillance video at their home or business and let the authorities know if they find anything that could help detectives identify the suspect(s) responsible for the attack.
After one day after the attack, the office said they were investigating the case but did not know if it was a coordinated attack and had made no arrests. They said there could be any number of reasons at this point, and they have to investigate and not just jump to conclusions.
Following warnings from US authorities that neo-Nazis who claim they want to start a racial war are targeting power infrastructure, vandalism has taken place.
According to US media, the Department of Homeland Security stated in a January intelligence memo that violent extremists have developed specific, credible plans since 2020 to attack electricity infrastructure, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target given its interdependency with other infrastructure sectors.”
In early December, in Moore County, North Carolina, 45,000 homes and businesses were left without power after someone used a high-powered rifle to damage two electricity substations. Three men with neo-Nazi ties pleaded guilty in February in Columbus, Ohio, to planning to use explosives and rifles in various locations to damage power infrastructure.
Last year, five men from neo-Nazi and white supremacist online discussion groups planning attacks on power infrastructure were charged in North Carolina.
The former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Jon Wellinghoff, said in early December on CNN that the Moore County attack resembled one in 2013 on an electricity network substation near San Jose, California. The Washington Post said that law enforcement investigated eight incidents in four states after the Moore County case.
