On 12 October 2026, in the German town of Nürtingen (Baden-Württemberg), two Turkish citizens — 34-year-old Müslüm T. and 38-year-old Ümit E. — were detained at the request of Polish special services and on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant. They are suspected of involvement in the arson of a Starlink satellite internet ground station in the village of Wola Krobowska (Masovian Voivodeship, approximately 50 km south of Warsaw), which took place on the evening of 23 September.
Polish authorities have classified the incident as a deliberate act of sabotage. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it “another act of hybrid warfare.” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński stated that after the suspects are transferred to Poland, they will face charges of sabotage and subversion carried out on the instructions of a foreign intelligence service. Coordinator of Special Services Tomasz Siemoniak declared that there is “no doubt” about the involvement of Russian special services, noting that they are increasingly recruiting individuals from the criminal underworld for such operations. According to Warsaw, the aim of the attack was to disrupt critical infrastructure and internet connectivity, including the networks used by the Ukrainian army. Starlink (the SpaceX service of Elon Musk) has played an important role since 2022 in coordinating Ukraine’s defence in areas where conventional networks have been damaged.
The fire damaged the station’s power supply system and backup generator. Polish investigators reconstructed the preparation and execution of the attack: according to CCTV footage, two masked individuals climbed over the fence, poured a flammable liquid over the control cabinet and set it alight before quickly leaving the site. The investigation has video recordings, fingerprints, DNA evidence and data on the suspects’ movements (entry into and exit from Poland). One of the detained men was resident in Germany; the other was subject to a deportation order. A court in Stuttgart is to decide on their extradition to Poland.
German media, citing sources in several countries, report that the detainees may belong to the Turkish organised crime group known as the “Daltons” (Daltons / Daltonlar) or may have acted on its instructions. The group, active in Turkey, Germany and other European countries, is involved in extortion, arms trafficking and contract killings; it is regarded as part of the so-called “Generation Z mafia.” According to the sources, the Daltons may have carried out the attack on the orders of Russian special services. The alleged leader of the group, Beratcan Gökdemir (also known as Can Dalton), was detained in Russia in 2024; Turkey demanded his extradition, but according to German security authorities, Russia protected him.
