FAQ
Status: 08.01.2023 18:56
Two brothers are said to have planned an Islamist attack – with substances that are considered biological weapons. The public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf has requested arrest warrants. What is known so far.
What happened?
On the night of Sunday, the emergency services with a large contingent moved to the apartment of a 32-year-old in a small shopping street in the north of the Ruhr area town of Castrop-Rauxel. The suspicion: The Iranian citizen is said to have prepared an Islamist-motivated attack with toxins, according to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor, the Recklinghausen police and the Münster police. In addition to the man’s apartment, basement rooms were also searched.
The police arrested the 32-year-old and his 25-year-old brother, who happened to be in the apartment. The Düsseldorf public prosecutor later requested arrest warrants against the two. The brothers are accused, among other things, of wanting to obtain toxins for an Islamist-motivated attack. A magistrate at the Dortmund District Court is now deciding whether the two should be remanded in custody.
During the search, observers speak of one of the largest anti-terrorist operations in a long time. According to media reports, experts in biological and chemical hazards from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) were also on site during the access. Many emergency services wore protective suits and oxygen masks. Evidence was taken in blue barrels to a decontamination site set up by the fire department.
What was found?
Toxic substances such as cyanide and ricin were not found in the suspect’s apartment, according to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office. The investigators did not initially answer whether the 32-year-old had actually come across poison and whether it was stored elsewhere.
The police also secured laptops, cell phones and other electronic storage media. They would now be evaluated, said the spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. Weapons were not found.
What do you know about the suspects?
The Iranian arrested in his apartment is suspected of having prepared “a serious act of violence that endangers the state,” said the spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. It is suspected that he is a supporter of a Sunni Islamist terrorist group, as the dpa news agency learned from security circles. He is said not to have acted on behalf of Iranian state authorities.
The latter was also confirmed by the spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office. He went on to say that there were indications of an Islamist-influenced worldview, which resulted in an attack being planned.
The other arrested person is the suspect’s brother. According to information from ARD terrorism experts Michael Götschenberg is said to be in psychiatric treatment. That’s why he is said to have only visited his brother over the weekend. He was previously known to the police, but for reasons unrelated to Islamist terrorism. The men are said to have both been in Germany since 2015.
When they were arrested, they were only scantily clad and led across the street into an emergency vehicle, eyewitnesses reported. Neither of them resisted. According to the investigators, there are no other suspects according to current knowledge.
How did the investigators find out?
US security forces warned the German investigators. A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf said on Saturday they received a specific tip on the 32-year-old’s well-advanced attack plans.
According to information from the “Bild” newspaper and “Spiegel”, the US authority is the FBI. The “Spiegel” reports that the FBI passed on the first clue as early as Christmas. Apparently, the Americans had infiltrated a Telegram chat group. There, according to the magazine, the suspect inquired about bomb construction plans and toxins. The investigations began shortly before New Year’s Eve, said terrorism expert Götschenberg in the daily News.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said: “We had serious information that prompted the police to intervene that night.”
What toxins did investigators suspect?
The man is suspected of having obtained cyanide and ricin for an attack. According to the RKI, the highly toxic ricin is listed under “biological weapons” in the war weapons list. The plant toxin blocks protein synthesis in cells. It is particularly toxic when injected or inhaled. In the event of poisoning, the symptoms – such as pulmonary edema, circulatory failure and liver and kidney damage – are treated, but there are currently no specific therapy options.
Cyanide is also highly toxic, even the smallest amounts are fatal to humans. Cyanides are not only effective when swallowed, but also after inhalation through the lungs. When cyanides come into contact with water, hydrocyanic acid (hydrogen cyanide) is formed, which is known for its typical smell of bitter almonds. The respiratory poisons take effect very quickly, and the victims die of respiratory paralysis.
Four years ago, investigations in Cologne showed just how dangerous ricin is: a Tunisian and his German wife had produced the chemical there and set off test explosions. A foreign secret service became suspicious and gave a tip. Both were sentenced to long prison terms. An expert report showed that, purely arithmetically, 13,500 people could have died from the amount of poison. With the planned spread by a cluster bomb spiked with steel balls, it would have killed around 200 people.
What are the public reactions?
Against the background of the operation, Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said that the danger of Islamist attacks in Germany has not been averted. “Our security authorities take every indication of Islamist terrorist threats very seriously – and act,” she said, according to a statement from her ministry. Since the year 2000, the authorities in Germany have prevented 21 Islamist attacks.
According to the SPD politician, the current case shows once again that the joint counter-terrorism center works as a tried-and-tested federal-state cooperation platform. This is where the information came together so that action could be taken quickly and effectively at any time. International cooperation continues to be an important building block in the fight against international Islamist terrorism.
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann said on the fringes of the CSU state group retreat: “This threat is less than it was six or seven years ago, but it still exists. One mustn’t forget that.” He pointed out that in almost every terror plan that has been uncovered in recent years, the key clue has come from US intelligence services. Germany is still very dependent on America’s secret services when it comes to fighting terrorism internally.
The Greens interior expert Konstantin von Notz told the newspapers of the “Funke” media group: “Once again it becomes clear that with all current, very serious threats from the militant, well-networked right-wing extremism, we do not see any dangers emanating from Islamist perpetrators lose sight of and underestimate.”