In connection with the anti-terrorist operation in Castrop-Rauxel, emergency services are now also searching two garages that are assigned to one of the two accused brothers. Another search warrant had been obtained, which is currently being enforced, said a spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office on Monday morning. The television station Welt had previously reported.
Investigations have shown that the older of the two brothers, the 32-year-old, has the two garages in a backyard in Castrop-Rauxel, the public prosecutor said. Among other things, the so-called Analytical Task Force of the fire brigade is on duty to ensure safe handling of potentially hazardous substances. The spokesman explained that a decontamination route would be set up. It is not yet possible to estimate how long the operation will last, he said. That depends on what is found.
The two brothers (32 and 25 years old) were arrested in Castrop-Rauxel on Sunday night. The two Iranians are said to have tried to procure the toxins cyanide and ricin for an Islamist-motivated attack. According to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office, no toxins were found during a search of the 32-year-old’s apartment.
Arrest warrants were issued for the two men on Sunday evening. According to the Attorney General’s Office, they are accused of intending to kill “an unspecified number of people” with the poison. How concretely the possible attack plans had progressed and what a possible target would have been remained unclear. The German investigators had become active because of a tip from the US security authorities.
The federal prosecutor responsible for terrorism investigations has so far refrained from taking over the case. “We are in contact with the responsible authorities in Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia and are monitoring developments,” said a spokeswoman for the Karlsruhe authority on Monday. This is how it usually works in comparable situations. A spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office also said that, as is usual in such a case, one is in contact with the federal prosecutor’s office.
The 25-year-old was convicted of attempted murder
The younger of the two brothers was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019 for attempted murder. Even at the time of his arrest on Sunday night, he was not yet free: he was still being held in a rehabilitation center in Hagen, but was allowed to spend the night with family members due to a relaxation at the weekend. This was announced by a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Dortmund on Monday. Previously had that Westfalen-Blatt reported about it.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the 25-year-old threw a large branch from a bridge onto Autobahn 45 at night in July 2018. He hit a car with it, the driver was injured by glass splinters. In fact he was drunk. In January 2019, he was sentenced to imprisonment by the Dortmund Regional Court for attempted murder in combination with dangerous bodily harm and intentional dangerous interference with road traffic.
Because of his addiction, it was then ordered that after a year and a half in prison he would be placed in a rehabilitation center. According to the clinic, the man had made progress, the spokesman for the public prosecutor said on Monday. However, the public prosecutor’s office last requested at the end of November that the accommodation should continue.