General
Contaminants Found at German Military Base, and Sabotage Is Suspected
The discovery led to the temporary lockdown of the base while the water supply was tested. NATO officials also reported that an intruder tried to forcibly enter one of the alliance’s bases in the country.
Two military bases in Germany were put under heightened security on Wednesday after contaminants were found in the water supply of barracks at one site — the result of possible sabotage, the military said — and an intruder attempted to forcibly enter a NATO base in the country.
A hole was found early Wednesday in the fence near the barracks’ drinking water supply at the German Army base in Cologne-Wahn, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, according to an official release by the military. The discovery led to the temporary lockdown while the supply was tested. The water showed “unusual values,” the military said, but did not specify of what.
Later on Wednesday, NATO officials reported that a person had tried to enter by force at the alliance’s base in Geilenkirchen, near the border with the Netherlands. It was put on a heightened alert but not locked down, according to a spokesman. The water there was tested and found to be normal, he added.
Col. Arne Collatz, a spokesman for the German defense ministry, told reporters it did not immediately appear that the two episodes were related.
The German base is near Cologne’s airport and houses air force and medical facilities, as well as other elements of the Bundeswehr, or German military. Approximately 4,000 soldiers and 1,500 civilians are employed at the site.
Colonel Collatz did not reveal what, if any, effect the possible contaminant could have had on people who came into contact with it at the base. But a statement issued on Wednesday by the military’s territorial leadership command said it “wishes all members of the armed forces who had come to harm during the incident a speedy and complete recovery.”
