Iranians are said to have planned an Islamist attack with cyanide and ricin
32-year-old in North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have prepared an Islamist-motivated attack
Anti-terror investigators arrested a 32-year-old in Castrop-Rauxel in the northern Ruhr area who is said to have prepared an Islamist attack. The Iranian national is suspected of having obtained the toxins cyanide and ricin for the crime.
In Castrop-Rauxel, anti-terror investigators arrested a 32-year-old who is said to have helped prepare an Islamist attack. The Iranian national is said to have obtained the toxins cyanide and ricin for the crime. Ricin is considered a biological weapon of war.
AAnti-terror investigators have arrested a 32-year-old in Castrop-Rauxel in the northern Ruhr area who is said to have prepared an Islamist attack. The Iranian national is suspected of having obtained the toxins cyanide and ricin for the crime, said the Düsseldorf public prosecutor, the Recklinghausen police and the Münster police early on Sunday morning.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the highly toxic ricin is included in the war weapons list under “biological weapons”. Cyanide is also highly toxic, even the smallest amounts are fatal to humans.
On the night of Sunday, the investigators struck around midnight. The investigators said the living quarters of the 32-year-old in Castrop-Rauxel were searched by order of the judge. The scene was cordoned off over a wide area. Police, fire brigade and rescue workers were on site with a large contingent.
“We had a serious tip that prompted the police to intervene that night,” said North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). According to WELT information, a “friend of the secret service” could have warned the German security authorities about the risk of a chemical bomb attack. First “Bild” had reported about it. Accordingly, the BKA has been investigating the Iranian for several days.
Substances found during the search are examined on the premises of the fire brigade in Castrop-Rauxel
Source: dpa/Christoph Reichwein
Many emergency services wore protective suits. Evidence was brought in blue barrels to a decontamination point set up by the fire department, a dpa reporter reported. Because of the biological and chemical dangers for the emergency services, RKI employees were also on site as consultants. Several employees of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and a defuse commando were also deployed. The BKA did not want to comment on the operation and referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
“The accused is suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state,” said the investigators. “The search serves to find corresponding toxins and other evidence.” The Attorney General’s Office confirmed to WELT that in addition to the 32-year-old, a second man found during the search was taken into custody. It is said to be his brother.
It was initially unclear how far the attack plans had progressed and whether there was already a concrete target for the attack. The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment due to the early stage of the investigation. According to information from the dpa from security circles, the man is said not to have acted on behalf of Iranian state authorities. Rather, it is assumed that he is a supporter of a Sunni Islamist terrorist group.
His brother, who happened to be in the 32-year-old’s apartment when the police took hold of him, was known to the police beforehand, but for reasons unrelated to Islamist terrorism. It is not yet clear whether he was informed of the alleged attack plans. The men are said to have both been in Germany since 2015.
A man is taken into custody by an officer from the special task force (SEK) wearing a protective mask
Source: dpa/Karsten Wickern
They were led across the street into an emergency vehicle in their underpants and with their jackets only thrown on in a makeshift manner. Neither of them resisted. According to investigators, it has not yet been decided whether the 32-year-old will be brought before a magistrate. The procedure is being conducted by the North Rhine-Westphalia Central Office for the Prosecution of Terrorism at the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office.
There are currently no indications that the arrest in Castrop-Rauxel could be connected to attacks on synagogues, it said on Sunday morning. In November there were several attempted attacks on Jewish places of worship in North Rhine-Westphalia.
One of the backers of the series of attacks could be former rocker boss Ramin Y., who fled to Tehran in September 2021. WELT AM SONNTAG recently reported that a suspect who is in custody maintains business relationships with Y. The man is said to have moved in radical Shiite circles.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach thanked the emergency services. His special thanks go to the specialists at the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Criminal Police Office, wrote the SPD politician on Twitter. The specialists deserved “greatest respect”.
The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag and domestic politician Dirk Wiese also thanked the security authorities and emergency services. “It shows once again how vigilant we have to be. It is now important that the background and possible connections can be clarified comprehensively,” he tweeted.
How dangerous ricin is
Four years ago, investigations in Cologne showed how dangerous ricin is: In a 15-storey building in the high-rise district of Chorweiler, a Tunisian and his German wife produced the chemical and set off test explosions. A foreign secret service became suspicious about online purchases of large quantities of castor seeds 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.