Investigators are investigating suspected unauthorized access and possible disturbances to the water source at an air force headquarters in western Germany, the government said on Wednesday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz said there were suspicions of attempted illegal entry or sabotage at the Wahn barracks on the outskirts of Cologne.
A hole was discovered overnight in the fence of the facility, near the hydroelectric plant, and the government cannot rule out possible contamination, according to army spokesman Ulrich Fonrobert. The land, but none was discovered and the gates were reopened Wednesday at noon.
Speaking outside the barracks, Fonrobert said the alarm was triggered by a report of “abnormal water values,” about which he did not elaborate. An assessment of the facility’s drinking water is still underway.
According to the authorities, no one has been sickened due to imaginable contamination. Fonrobert said one user had pleaded ill with an ailment in his abdomen, but this occurred Tuesday afternoon and was not similar to the water supply.
“We have our reasons for taking this step and we take this matter seriously,” a spokesman for Berlin’s Territorial Command told Reuters.
Der Spiegel magazine reported that German police and military counterintelligence were investigating the obvious theft.
At the Cologne-Wahn base, near Cologne-Bonn airport, there are several military and civilian installations of the German army, as well as aircraft used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers on government trips.
According to Der Spiegel, around 4,300 army painters and 1,200 civilians paint at the site.
The base is also a vital center for the military’s aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian infantrymen return from there, through Poland, after receiving education in Germany, Spiegel added.
AFP contributed to this report.