German police have arrested a Turkish national accused of ordering the arson of a Starlink ground station in Poland in September.
Special police units detained the man on Tuesday in the Reutlingen district near Stuttgart, the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office and the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office said. Officers seized eight mobile phones and ammunition during the arrest. He is charged with preparing a terrorist offense. A Stuttgart judge ordered his pre-trial detention.
Investigators say he ordered two other Turkish nationals to carry out the attack from German territory. Those two men were arrested in mid-October in Nürtingen at Poland's request and are awaiting extradition. They were driven to Poland on the night of September 22-23 by another suspect who provided transport.
The fire broke out on September 23 at the Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska near Grójec, south of Warsaw. Polish investigators concluded the blaze was deliberately set. Polish authorities say there is reasonable suspicion that Russian intelligence services were behind the attack.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the incident "another act of hybrid warfare." Special services coordinator Tomasz Siemoniak said there were "no doubts" that Russian intelligence services stood behind the sabotage. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspects would face charges of sabotage and acting for a foreign intelligence service once extradited.
The station, owned by state telecom company Exatel, routes internet data through Poland and into Ukraine. It is also used by SpaceX systems to provide internet connections via Starlink terminals. Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the sabotage was designed to disable the station and disrupted internet access for institutions including the Ukrainian army.
In mid-October, attempted arsons were also reported at Starlink stations in Lithuania and Bulgaria.
