RTÉ Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster
Sunday January 8, 2023
A man walks past a house in Castrop-Rauxel where police arrested an Iranian man on suspicion of having prepared a serious act of violence threatening the security of the state
An Iranian man has been arrested in western Germany suspected of preparing an "Islamist attack" using cyanide and ricin, police and prosecutors have said.
Muenster police and the Duesseldorf prosecutors' office said in a press release that officers searched a residence in the town of Castrop-Rauxel for "toxic substances" intended to carry out an attack.
The 32-year-old Iranian was "suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence threatening the security of the state by obtaining cyanide and ricin with a view to committing an Islamist attack", said investigators.
The arrest was carried out shortly before midnight yesterday, a spokeswoman for the police said. Another person, said to be the main suspect's brother, was also taken into custody during the operation, she said.
The 32-year-old suspect will be presented in the coming days to an investigating judge ahead of possible pre-trial detention, police said.
Ricin is a highly toxic substance, which is classed as a "chemical weapon" in Germany. Similar to cyanide, ricin can be lethal.
According to local media reports, the raids were carried out by agents wearing protective suits, due to the chemical hazard.
German authorities were tipped off to the risk of an attack with a "chemical bomb" several days ago by a foreign intelligence service, the German daily Bild reported.
Police seized electronic storage devices but found neither cyanide nor ricin during the search, Holger Heming of the Duesseldorf public prosecutor's office told Reuters TV.
Castrop-Rauxel is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, whose Interior Minister Herbert Reul said: "We had a serious tip-off that prompted the police to intervene during the night. The authorities are now investigating at full speed."
Mr Heming said the tip came from a security agency of a"friendly state", without elaborating. Bild newspaper said the agency in question was the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Police said a second individual was detained as part of the searches, adding a decision on whether to issue an official arrest warrant would be made at a later date as the investigation is continuing.
Heming confirmed the person to be the suspect's brother.
Ricin, found naturally in castor beans, can cause death within 36 to 72 hours from exposure to an amount as small as a pinhead. No known antidote exists.
According to German domestic intelligence services, the number of members or supporters of Islamist causes has shrunk by1.5% to 28,290 individuals in 2021, citing the "military breakup" of the militant Islamic State group.
On 19 December 2016, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, drove a truck into a crowded western Berlin Christmas market, killing 11 people and injuring dozens.
News about today's searches also comes a month after German authorities arrested 25 members and supporters of a far-right group that the prosecutor's office said was preparing a violent overthrow of the state.