The police intervene in his house with large amounts of cyanide and ricin
A 32-year-old Iranian citizen who plotted an Islamist attack that killed hundreds in Germany was arrested this morning in the town of Castrop-Rauxel by a special anti-terrorist unit. The suspect had collected large quantities of cyanide and ricin with which he intended to make chemical bombs, the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office and the Recklinghausen and Münster police announced in a joint statement on Sunday. Ricin is on the list of biological warfare weapons, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Cyanide is also very toxic and small amounts are enough to kill someone.
The police action in the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia was unleashed by court order at the home of the suspect shortly after midnight, after the area was cordoned off. Police, fire and medical units deploy a large number of troops, protected by gas masks and special suits to protect against chemical and biological weapons. Due to the great danger of the accumulated chemical products, specialized advisers from the RKI and an explosives disposal command took part in the operation.
“The defendant is suspected of preparing a serious attack on state security,” the official statement underlined, highlighting that “the purpose of the search was to locate toxic substances and other evidence.” Another man, presumably his own brother, was arrested together with the 32-year-old suspect. The prosecutor’s office in charge of the case and the police did not provide details on how advanced plans for possible attacks were or what the targets of the captured suspected terrorist were.
Embedded in special protective suits, several officers fetched chemical products in blue drums, which were taken to a provisional decontamination point set up by firefighters. The two men were handcuffed without resistance by police officers in gas masks and led to a vehicle to be transported to the police station. One of them wore only sports shorts and was covered with a jacket. The second was wearing a T-shirt and underpants. “Evidence has been provided that will be analyzed,” said those responsible for the operation.
The tabloid Bild assures that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (BKA) had been observing the suspect for several days after some “friendly intelligence services” had warned the German authorities of the danger of a chemical bomb attack. It is not the first time that German security forces have thwarted a possible chemical weapons attack. Four years ago, a Tunisian citizen and a German woman were arrested in Cologne for producing ricin for terrorist purposes and carrying out several experimental explosions. They were arrested after a warning from a friendly foreign spy agency and subsequently sentenced to long prison terms. An expert opinion presented as evidence at the trial stressed that the poison produced by the terrorist couple was enough to kill 13,500 people. The shrapnel-laden bomb they made to disperse the ricin could have killed up to 200 people.
Source: La Verdad
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