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Use in Castrop-Rauxel
Photo: Christoph Reichwein / dpa
A 32-year-old man was arrested during a night-time anti-terror operation in the Ruhr area because he is said to have procured the toxins cyanide and ricin for an Islamist-motivated attack.
At least when the Iranian's apartment was searched in Castrop-Rauxel on Sunday night, no toxins were found, as the responsible senior public prosecutor Holger Heming told SPIEGEL.
The investigators have not yet answered whether the suspect had actually come across toxins and whether they were stored elsewhere.
The brother of the 32-year-old, who was in the apartment when the police accessed it, was also arrested during the operation.
According to SPIEGEL information, the FBI is said to have given German authorities the first tip about those arrested as early as Christmas.
Apparently, the Americans had infiltrated the Telegram chat group, in which the two alleged perpetrators are said to have first asked about bomb construction plans and later about toxins.
Dependent on America's secret services?
There were therefore initial indications that the brothers probably wanted to strike on New Year's Eve.
However, they may have been missing an ingredient for the production of the poison, which could not have been delivered until after the turn of the year, according to official circles.
One of the two brothers is said to have made several appearances to the police and was currently undergoing psychiatric treatment.
According to SPIEGEL information, the main suspect is Monir J., an Iranian Sunni Muslim.
From the Telegram chats it can be concluded that he is a suspected IS sympathizer.
A neighbor described him as a quiet, unassuming young man.
The terrorism expert Peter Neumann pointed out that in almost every terrorist plan that has been uncovered in recent years, the crucial clue has come from the US secret services.
Germany is still very dependent on America's secret services when it comes to fighting terrorism at home, he said.
»Actually, this should result in people trying to build up such skills here in Germany in order to reduce this dependency.«
At the time, American authorities also had to draw the attention of their German colleagues to the prevented ricin attack in Cologne in 2018.
The US authorities had registered at the time that the perpetrator had ordered significant quantities of the raw materials for the production of ricin from Amazon.
A Tunisian and his German wife had manufactured the chemical and set off test explosions in a 15-story building in the high-rise district of Chorweiler.
Both were sentenced to long prison terms.
"We had a serious tip that prompted the police to intervene that night," said North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on the current case.
The investigators struck around midnight.
The scene was cordoned off over a wide area.
Police, fire brigade and rescue workers were on site with a large contingent.
Many emergency services wore protective suits.
The investigators secured evidence such as electronic storage media.
These would now have to be evaluated, said a spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office.
According to the RKI, the highly toxic ricin is listed under "biological weapons" in the war weapons list.
Cyanide is also highly toxic, even the smallest amounts are fatal to humans.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) does not see the danger of Islamist attacks in Germany averted against the background of the operation.
Germany is still in the immediate target range of Islamist terrorist organizations, she said.
Islamist-motivated individual perpetrators are another significant danger.
"Our security authorities are therefore anticipating preparations for an attack at any time." Since the year 2000, the authorities in Germany have prevented 21 Islamist attacks.
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