Substances found during the search are inspected at the fire department’s premises in Castrop-Rauxel, Sunday, January 8, 2023. In Castrop-Rauxel, the police and fire department held a large-scale campaign on Saturday night. A special task force (SEK) was also at the scene, a police spokesman told the German Press Agency on Saturday evening.
Christoph Reichwein/AP
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Christoph Reichwein/AP
Substances found during the search are inspected at the fire department’s premises in Castrop-Rauxel, Sunday, January 8, 2023. In Castrop-Rauxel, the police and fire department held a large-scale campaign on Saturday night. A special task force (SEK) was also at the scene, a police spokesman told the German Press Agency on Saturday evening.
Christoph Reichwein/AP
BERLIN — A 32-year-old Iranian man has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning a deadly chemical attack, officials said Sunday.
Police and prosecutors said the man and another person were detained overnight in the town of Castrop-Rauxel, northwest of Dortmund.
In a joint statement, they said the man was suspected of planning a serious attack fueled by Islamic extremism, for which he allegedly sought to obtain cyanide poison. and strong ricin.
Experts wearing anti-pollution gear were seen carrying evidence out of the man’s home.
A spokesman for Duesseldorf prosecutors later said an initial search of the facility found no harmful substances, the German news agency dpa reported.
It is not clear how far the attack plan has progressed and whether the suspect has chosen a specific target.
The Dpa quoted North Rhine-Westphalia’s top security official, Herbert Reul, as saying that authorities had received “a serious advice that prompted police to intervene on the night of the same day.”
The tabloid Bild reported that information about the alleged plot came from an allied intelligence agency.
The Dpa quoted an unnamed German security official as saying that there was no indication that the suspect was acting on behalf of the Iranian state, but rather that he was accused of supporting a Sunni extremist group. . Sunnis are a religious minority in Iran.
Five years ago, German police arrested a Tunisian man and his wife on suspicion of planning a ricin attack in the name of the Islamic State group. They were later found guilty and sentenced to 10 and 8 years in prison, respectively.
Even small amounts of ricin, produced from the seeds of the castor plant, can kill an adult if ingested, injected, or inhaled.
