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The second search early last week in Castrop-Rauxel.
The special forces came in protective suits.
Photo: Bernd Thissen / dpa
The suspicion of terrorism against two brothers who were arrested in Castrop-Rauxel on January 7 seems to be becoming more concrete.
During another search in the apartment of Monir J., a 32-year-old Iranian, the investigators apparently found what they were looking for.
"Last Thursday, during a search, we found evidence relevant to the procedure in the apartment in Castrop-Rauxel," said Düsseldorf public prosecutor Holger Heming.
What exactly and in what quantity was found, he did not want to say when asked.
According to a letter from the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice to the state parliament in Düsseldorf, Monir J. and his 25-year-old brother are suspected of having planned an attack on a large crowd on New Year's Eve with poisons "on behalf of the IS".
For this they wanted to have procured ricin or cyanide, which apparently did not succeed.
The Federal Criminal Police Office was made aware of the brothers on December 30, 2022 “as part of the international exchange of information”.
According to SPIEGEL, the tip came from the FBI.
However, the brothers apparently lacked the necessary ingredients for an attack at the turn of the year.
Eventually, one of the brothers announced that he had ordered the last necessary raw material called "Iron Powder" online and expected delivery on January 6th.
A day later, special forces searched the apartment for the first time, at first they did not find any toxins.
Both brothers stayed at Monir J.'s apartment and were arrested.
The 25-year-old brother was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Dortmund district court in January 2019 for attempted murder and was on release with his brother.
Psychiatry classified 25-year-olds as harmless
As can be seen from the letter from the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Justice, the younger brother had previously been classified as relatively harmless in the forensic clinic treating him.
The man, according to a letter from the treating psychiatrist, is behaving according to the rules, the "risk of harming others or himself" is classified as low.
In November 2022, the man was then allowed to stay “outside the facility for one or more nights”.
This was justified, among other things, by the fact that the man "worked on a voluntary basis in non-profit organizations and completed a two-week internship" and had registered at a school.
Alcohol and drug tests were also negative.
During the first anti-terror raid on the night from Saturday to Sunday in Castrop-Rauxel, the investigators initially found a good 36 grams of marijuana.
The search of the garages behind the residential building on the following Monday was unsuccessful.
Then on Thursday, during another search, the investigators found what they were looking for.
Ina Klimpke, the lawyer for the 32-year-old apartment owner Monir J., told SPIEGEL that she cannot comment on the allegations against her client because she has not yet been given access to the investigation file.
Klimpke said she set a date for a detention review at the end of this week.
tgk/rol
