Investigators find no toxins in apartment

Created: 01/08/2023Updated: 01/08/2023 12:32 p.m

Men in protective suits carry a box out of the house where an anti-terrorist operation took place.

© Marc Gruber/7aktuell.de/Marc Gruber/dpa

In the middle of the night, police officers move out to an apartment: a man is said to have obtained poison for an Islamist-motivated attack.

At least in the apartment, the emergency services do not find the dangerous substances.

Castrop-Rauxel - During the search in the Ruhr area for a possible planned attack, the investigators found no toxins in the suspect's apartment.

A spokesman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor said on Sunday the German Press Agency.

A 32-year-old is suspected of having procured cyanide and ricin for an Islamist-motivated attack.

The investigators did not initially answer whether he succeeded and whether the toxins were stored elsewhere.

It was also initially unclear how concrete a possible attack plan was.

That is still the subject of the investigation, said the spokesman for the Attorney General's Office.

The 32-year-old is suspected of preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state.

It was initially unclear whether and when the man should be brought before a magistrate.

Anti-terror investigators searched the 32-year-old's apartment on Sunday night and arrested him.

As the dpa learned from security circles, it is suspected that he is a supporter of a Sunni Islamist terrorist group.

He is said not to have acted on behalf of Iranian state authorities.

According to the spokesman for the Attorney General, the reference to the 32-year-old came from an authority in a “friendly state”.

The brother of the 32-year-old was also arrested during the operation.

This was known to the police beforehand, but for reasons unrelated to Islamist terrorism.

It is not yet clear whether he was aware of the alleged attack plans.

The men are said to have both been in Germany since 2015.

dpa