A 32-year-old Iranian, suspected of preparing an “Islamist” attack using cyanide and ricin, was arrested in western Germany, the police and the general prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf announced on Sunday. His accommodation in Castrop-Rauxel (North Rhine-Westphalia) was searched overnight to find possible “toxic substances” intended to commit an attack, according to a press release from the general prosecutor’s office and the Münster police.
The Iranian is “suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence threatening state security by obtaining cyanide and ricin with a view to committing an Islamist attack”, specify the investigators. They did not, however, give details on whether or not a concrete and immediate threat existed and what the state of preparations was.
Ricin, deadly poison
Ricin is a very toxic agent classified by the Robert Koch Institute, in charge of medical and health monitoring in Germany, as a “biological weapon” and is extracted from the seeds of the ricin plant. It can be a deadly poison, like cyanide. According to German media, the search involved officers dressed in protective suits due to the biohazard. According to the daily Picturethe German authorities were warned several days ago by a foreign intelligence service of the threat of a “chemical bomb” attack.
A second person was also arrested during the operation and taken into custody. According to the public television channel of the region concerned, WDR, it is the brother of the main suspect. The latter should be presented in the coming days to an investigating judge with a view to his possible placement in pre-trial detention, adds the prosecution.
In 2018, the German police had already arrested a 31-year-old Tunisian and his wife, suspected of having wanted to prepare what would have been the first “biological” attack in the country. In the couple, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, the investigators had found 84.3 mg of ricin and some 3,300 castor seeds used to make the poison. The man was sentenced two years later to 10 years in prison and his wife to 8 years in prison. Germany has been targeted in recent years by several Islamist attacks, including a ram truck attack on a Christmas market in December 2016 that left 13 dead.