Germany arrests an Iranian suspected of planning a terrorist attack

CNN
–

German Iranian authorities said Sunday that police had arrested an Iranian citizen on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack.

Police in the western city of Munster said the 32-year-old was believed to have purchased unspecified quantities of cyanide and ricin in preparation for the Islamist-motivated attack.

The suspect was arrested following an investigation by the Central Office for the Prosecution of Terrorism in North Rhine-Westphalia, a unit of the Dusseldorf public prosecutor’s office, according to police.

Holger Hemming of the Dusseldorf public prosecutor’s office told Reuters that a “serious tip-off” from a security agency in a “friendly country” prompted police to intervene during the night.

Hemming told the news agency that the police confiscated electronic storage devices, but did not find cyanide or ricin during a search of the suspect’s home in the city of Castrop-Rouxel.

An investigation is underway, police said, adding that another person is being held in the case.

Hemming confirmed that the person in custody is the suspect’s brother, according to Reuters, and police said a decision on issuing an official arrest warrant would be taken at a later date.