Image: Starlink
Lithuania’s Criminal Police Bureau says two Germany-based men are the suspects in the October 18 attempted arson of Starlink ground equipment in Vilnius, a follow-up to the wider European attack wave that already includes Turkey’s raids on a gang tied to Poland’s Starlink fire, and both are already held in Germany on Bulgarian European arrest warrants.
The bureau’s Thursday, October 29 release describes a pre-trial probe into what it calls a terrorist attack that day against Starlink satellite infrastructure on a private company’s site, with a risk of serious consequences. Investigators working with foreign partners identified two dual nationals living in Germany, one Turkish-German and one Serbian-German.
Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office prosecutors on October 27 named the pair as suspects over forming and operating an organized terrorist group, taking part in a terrorist group, traveling for terrorist purposes, and a terrorist act that could have caused serious consequences. The most serious of those group charges carries 10 to 15 years in prison.
Police say the men are in custody in Germany under warrants Bulgaria issued for a similar Starlink antenna fire near Sofia. Lithuania’s Criminal Police deputy head Saulius Briginas told reporters the suspects are in their 20s, arrived on the eve of the Vilnius attempt, left right afterward, and had no ties to Lithuania. He also linked them to Starlink arson cases in Poland and Bulgaria, while noting they are not believed to have personally set the Polish fire.
The Vilnius attempt sits in the same run of attacks that followed Poland’s September ground-station blaze, which Warsaw called sabotage, Germany’s arrests of two suspects in that case, and Bulgaria’s fire and later European arrest warrants. Lithuanian politicians have linked the October 18 attempt to Russia, and the police release stresses work to protect critical infrastructure and companies that support Ukraine during Russia’s aggression.
Will Germany send the pair to Bulgaria first, or will Lithuania get its own shot at prosecuting the Vilnius case?
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