During the night from Saturday to Sunday, two Iranians were arrested by the German police, suspected of having planned to commit an "Islamist" chemical attack with ricin and cyanide.
The suspects, presented by their initials only as MJ, 32, and his brother JJ, 25, will soon be "presented to a judge with a view to their being sent to pre-trial detention", the Düsseldorf regional prosecutor's office announced on Sunday evening.
According to the newspapers Spiegel and Süddeutsche Zeitung, it was the American FBI which warned the German services of this planned attack.
No toxic products were found in the suspects' homes.
"They are accused of having agreed to commit an Islamist-inspired attack, for which they wanted to obtain toxic substances, cyanide and ricin, and with that kill an indeterminate number of people", continues the prosecution in a press release.
The accommodation of the two suspects, located in Castrop-Rauxel, in the west of the country, was searched overnight from Saturday to Sunday by the police, who however found "no clue" about the presence of these products.
On the images of the NTV television channel, we see the two arrested people taken away in their underwear by agents, dressed in special protective suits because of the chemical risk.
The regional interior minister, Herbert Reul, explained that the authorities had received “indications to be taken seriously” which led the police to “act during the night”.
According to the investigative site Der Spiegel, the two brothers, who are Sunni Iranians who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) organization, considered taking action on New Year's Eve, but they lacked elements for making ricin and cyanide poisons.
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