The Hamburg police arrested a Romanian (37 years old) and a Greek (54 years old) following a relevant order from the Prosecutor’s Office. The two workers are suspected of acts of sabotage against corvettes of the German navy in the port of Hamburg.
According to what became known, the two arrests took place in Hamburg and in an unnamed village in Greece. According to Bild the operation was coordinated by Eurojust, the agency responsible for combating cross-border organized crime, based in The Hague.
According to the prosecution, the two defendants allegedly hacked various ships destined for the German navy in 2025 while working in the port of Hamburg. These ships were anchored in a shipyard.
The men, sometimes acting alone and sometimes together, are said to have thrown more than 20 kilograms of abrasive gravel into a ship’s engine, punctured fresh water supply pipes, removed fuel tank caps and disabled safety switches on the ship’s electronic systems. The incident was only discovered during an on-board inspection before the corvette ‘Emden’ sailed for Kiel in mid-January.
According to the Attorney General’s office, these acts could have caused significant damage to the ships or delayed their departure, thereby jeopardizing Germany’s security and the effectiveness of the troops.
“The evaluation of the seized evidence is ongoing. The investigation also aims to identify the person who may have commissioned the sabotage,” the statement said.
“They had caused damage more than once”
Naval Inspector Jan Christian Kaak reported in February that saboteurs had deliberately damaged warships in Germany more than once.
“There was destruction, that is sabotage, on more than one ship,” the vice admiral said during the “Navy Talks” event in Berlin. Appropriate measures have been taken at shipyards in response. At the time, media outlets WDR, NDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the Emden corvette, built at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg but not initially delivered to the Navy, had been targeted for sabotage.
Eurojust’s official announcement
“Cooperation between German, Greek and Romanian authorities, coordinated by Eurojust, led to the arrest of two people suspected of attempted sabotage against German defense equipment. The arrest of the suspects, a Romanian and a Greek citizen, took place today in Germany and Greece.
The two suspects, who work at the port of Hamburg, are said to have attempted acts of sabotage in 2025. These included throwing more than 20kg of abrasive gravel into the engine block of German Navy ships, drilling into drinking water supply pipes, removing caps from fuel tanks, as well as disabling electronic switches security.
If these actions had not been detected in time, they could have caused serious damage to the ships and delayed their departure, jeopardizing the operational activities of the German Navy.
Thanks to the coordination of Eurojust, the German, Greek and Romanian authorities worked together to prepare today’s day of operations, which led to the arrest of one suspect in Greece and another in Germany. At the same time, searches were carried out at the residences of the suspects in Germany, Greece and Romania, during which evidence was seized.
Investigations into the attempted sabotage are ongoing.
The operations were carried out by the following authorities:
Germany: Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office; Hamburg State Police
Greece: Prosecutor’s Office of Thrace; Komotini Investigator; Komotini Security and Criminal Prosecution Department
Romania: Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Judicial Council; Organized Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate – Central Service; Terrorist Financing and Anti-Money Laundering Department – Constanța Organized Crime Unit; Romanian Police”
