Status: 01/30/2023 8:59 p.m
At the beginning of January, two men were arrested in Castrop-Rauxel on suspicion of terrorism. Since then they have been in custody. Now one of the two brothers is free again.
About three weeks after the arrest of two Iranians in Castrop-Rauxel, one of the two men is free again. According to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office, the Dortmund district court currently sees no urgent suspicion and has lifted the arrest warrant against the 32-year-old.
“The investigations are of course continuing,” said senior public prosecutor Holger Heming of the dpa news agency. The spokesman did not want to comment on possible legal remedies after the decision of the district court for the time being. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on the release from prison.
The 32-year-old and his 25-year-old brother have been in custody since January 8. They are suspected of having planned an attack on a large crowd on New Year’s Eve with poisons on behalf of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”. Presumably they wanted to obtain ricin or cyanide, which apparently did not succeed.
According to the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf, the man had denied the allegations made against him, after which the Dortmund district court no longer saw any urgent suspicion.
Younger brother still in custody
The younger brother remains in custody. His trial date is not yet complete. The 25-year-old was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Dortmund district court in January 2019 for attempted murder and was with his brother at the time of the arrest.
The information about the two men came on December 30, 2022 from a foreign secret service. According to NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul, these were “abstract” and did not contain any “specific information”. It was only through further information on January 6th that a possible suspect was identified. It was the 32-year-old.
Even after several searches of the apartment and two garages in the backyard of the house, no toxins were found. Instead, investigators found 36 grams of marijuana and small amounts of “chemical and biological substances”.