Iranian arrested in Germany on suspicion of Islamist chemical attack plot
An Iranian man has been arrested in western Germany suspected of preparing an “Islamist attack” using cyanide and ricin, police and prosecutors said on January 8.
Munster police and the Dusseldorf 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 Times of Israel reports.
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.
Another person was arrested during the operation and taken into custody, they added.
The main suspect will be presented in the coming days to an investigating judge ahead of possible pre-trial detention, they said.
Cyanide is a poison that can also be deadly as a gas. Produced by processing castor beans, ricin is lethal in minute doses if swallowed, inhaled, or injected and 6,000 times more potent than cyanide, with no known antidote.
Germany has been targeted in recent years by several Islamist attacks, including a 2016 truck attack on a Christmas market that killed 12 people and left dozens injured.
A 13th victim died five years later, having suffered serious injuries in the assault.