2018 Cologne terrorist plot
The 2018 Cologne terrorist plot was foiled when police 13 June 2018 arrested Sief Allah H. in Cologne as he was manufacturing an explosive device which incorporated the highly toxic substance ricin.[1][2] He was arrested for having breached the war weapons control legislation (German: Kriegswaffenkontrollgesetz).[1]
Suspect and investigation
Sief Allah H. migrated to Germany in 2016 from Tunisia and was unknown to the security police of Germany before his arrest on Wednesday 13 June 2018.[3] Police found more than 3000 castor bean seeds in his apartment and 84.3 milligrams of ricin in his apartment along with bomb components.[4] The following Friday police had discovered that the suspected posessed the master key which gave access to further apartments in the same high-rise building and police searched those for dangerous items and substances.[5] The chief of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maaßen, said it was likely that a terrorist attack had been foiled.[4]
Aftermath
Political reactions
The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul (CDU) stated that the potential danger the suspect posed was "relatively high". Reul also praised the professionalism of the police in Cologne.[6]
References
- ^ a b Diehl, Jörg; Schmid, Fidelius (2018-06-13). "Terrorverdacht in Köln: Islamist soll an Biowaffe gearbeitet haben". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
- ^ "Ricin threat: Cologne police search flats". BBC News. 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
- ^ tagesschau.de. "Köln: Verdächtiger wollte offenbar Rizin herstellen". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-16.
- ^ a b (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Cologne ricin plot bigger than initially suspected | DW | 20.06.2018". DW.COM. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
- ^ ONLINE, RP. "Rizin-Fund in Köln: Polizei durchsucht weitere Wohnungen in Chorweiler". rp-online.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-17.
- ^ Striewski, Markus Schmitz/ Heinz Horst / Frank Gerhardt / Rainer (2018-06-14). "Haftbefehl gegen Tunesier: Rizin-haltige Substanz in Kölner Wohnung gefunden" (in German). Retrieved 2018-06-17.