Castor found in Cologne

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In the Rizinfund in Cologne on 12 June 2018 were in an apartment in Cologne district of Chorweiler up to a thousand toxic doses of the toxin ricin ensured. The Tunisian Sief Allah H. was arrested on strong suspicion of having deliberately manufactured a biological weapon in violation of the War Weapons Control Act. According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the accused wanted “very likely” to carry out a poison terrorist attack. In the opinion of BKA President Holger Münch, the construction of a “biobomb” is “a unique process in Germany”.

accused

H. was born in 1988 or 1989. He came to Germany in November 2016 and is married to convert Yasmin D., 14 years his senior . He met his wife on the internet. The marriage gave him a temporary residence permit. The couple have one child together and had a second in June 2018. From previous relationships, Yasmin D. brought five more children into the marriage. The family lived on social benefits .

H. sympathized with the Islamic State and was also considered an extremist in his home country . He is said to have been involved in an attack on a bus in his home country as early as 2015. In April 2017, H. came under the spotlight of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution because he wanted to travel to Syria via Turkey to join the IS terrorist organization.

In July 2018, the wife was also arrested on suspicion of complicity.

Investigation and arrest

Miracle tree seeds

H. is said to have started to procure the equipment and substances necessary for the extraction of ricin in mid-May 2018, including 3150 seeds of the miracle tree and an electric coffee grinder . H. is said to have successfully manufactured ricin from June 2018 according to an IS guide. A total of 84.3 milligrams of highly toxic ricin was seized.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution informed the Federal Prosecutor that H. was ordering substances for the production of ricin and for the construction of an explosive device on the Internet. The tip came from the US Central Intelligence Agency .

At the same time it was reported that there had been a notice to the public via the extremist phone of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

H. was observed by a mobile task force (MEK) of the NRW police. The Cologne police had the apartment in Chorweiler stormed by a special task force on June 12, 2018 at around 8 p.m.

The Federal Court of Justice issued an arrest warrant against H. because of the strong suspicion of having violated the War Weapons Control Act by deliberately manufacturing a biological weapon . According to the President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen , the accused very likely wanted to carry out a poison terrorist attack, whereby the amount of poison in the seeds ordered on the Internet should, according to the Rheinische Post , have been arithmetically sufficient to kill 250 to 1000 people, depending on the type of execution. H. was arrested and his wife was released a few hours later.

The Cologne fire brigade set up a laboratory in the stairwell of the high-rise building. Following the arrests, officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office, experts from the Robert Koch Institute and the fire brigade's analytical task force searched neighboring vacant apartments to which the suspect could have had access based on his key. He lived because of water damage in a spare apartment and had, according to information from the landlord a master key .

Various utensils were confiscated from H., including 250 metal balls and two bottles of acetone-containing nail polish remover . Wires with incandescent lamps soldered on were also found. 950 grams of a mixture of aluminum powder and pyrotechnic substances from fireworks were seized .

3,150 castor bean seeds were found in the apartments to which the suspect had access. He is said to have ordered and delivered all the castor seeds via the Internet mail order company. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, 2100 castor seeds can be assigned to three specific order processes. The investigations into the origin of the other castor seeds are ongoing. According to federal prosecutors, he had produced 84.3 milligrams of highly toxic ricin by the time he was arrested. In preparing the crime, he had at least two helpers in Tunisia , from whom he obtained information about the production of ricin via messenger service in May 2018 and then tested the poison on a dwarf hamster as suggested.

On August 3, 2018, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced that the arrest warrant had been expanded to include the urgent suspicion of preparing a serious, state-endangering act of violence. According to the investigators' findings, H. planned to detonate an explosive device with a fragmentation charge (metal balls) prepared with the highly toxic ricin in a closed and busy place.

Indictment and Trial

In March 2019, the rising federal indictment before the State Security Division of the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf against Sief Allah H. and Yasmin H. for preparing a serious subversive violence ( § 89a of the Criminal Code ), against Sief Allah H. also for attempted membership in a terrorist organization abroad . In autumn 2017 they are said to have made the decision to carry out an Islamist-motivated attack in Germany by detonating an explosive device in a large crowd , and for this purpose they carried out a successful explosion and produced ricin. In August and September 2017, Sief Allah H. tried to enter Syria from Turkey to join the Islamic State as a fighter . His wife Yasmin H. supported him by sending money and booking accommodation and flights. The criminal process began on June 7, 2019. In March 2020, Sief Allah H. was sentenced to ten years in prison; the case against Yasmin H. was previously separated.

backgrounds

As early as 2001 it became known to the public that instructions for the construction of nuclear explosives and for the production of biological weapons with ricin had been found among Islamists.

For the journalist Florian Flade, after the cases of the Sauerland group , the Düsseldorf cell and the Chemnitz bomb maker Dschaber al-Bakr, it is once again clear that the German security authorities continue to rely to a large extent on the help of the American secret services in countering terrorism.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Public Prosecutor's Office: Press release. June 14, 2018
  2. ↑ a b Terror background “very likely”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 15, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b Police find even more castor seeds. In: FAZ , June 20, 2018.
  4. ↑ Lena Kampf: A new type of offender? In: tagesschau.de , July 30, 2018, accessed on May 2, 2019.
  5. ↑ Sief Allah H. (29) married in Germany. In: Krone , June 15, 2018
  6. ↑ a b Ricin Fund: 1000 poison doses paid for by social money. In: Krone , June 15, 2018.
  7. ↑ He was known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Suspicious Tunisian from Cologne wanted to travel to ISIS and thereby betrayed himself. In: Focus , June 16, 2018.
  8. ↑ Jörg Diehl, Fidelius Schmid: Investigators arrest suspicious wife. In: Spiegel Online , July 24, 2018, accessed on May 2, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Suspect is apparently an Islamist. In: Tagesschau , June 20, 2018.
  10. ↑ Access in Cologne Tunisians made bio-weapons with ricin - a mistake betrayed him. In: Express , June 14, 2018
  11. ↑ Toxic ricin found in his Cologne apartment Authorities classify Tunisians as IS fighters. In: Focus , June 14, 2018.
  12. ↑ Media: Tunisians noticed who ordered ricin. dpa message on the Lübecker Nachrichten website , June 14, 2018.
  13. ↑ Details on the Sief H case: Police find even more castor seeds . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed September 19, 2018]).
  14. ^ "Biological warfare agent" Cologne: Federal Court of Justice issues arrest warrant against Sief H. In: Express , June 13, 2018.
  15. ^ Cologne-Chorweiler. Police thwart attack - terror suspect in custody In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger , June 13, 2018.
  16. ↑ Highly toxic weapon discovered. Tunisians arrested: did the Cologne police prevent a poison attack? In: Focus , June 13, 2018.
  17. ↑ Dangerous substances found - arrest warrant issued against Tunisians. In: ZDF , June 13, 2018.
  18. ^ Poison fund in Cologne-Chorweiler "Very likely" Terrorist attack prevented. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger , June 14, 2018.
  19. ↑ New evidence foiled poison attack in Cologne: Why did Sief Allah H. have access to eight apartments? In: Focus , June 18, 2018.
  20. ↑ a b tagesschau.de: Attorney General Peter Frank on Rizin and the averted danger. Retrieved June 21, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Bomb maker planned an Islamist attack in a “busy place”. In: Die Welt , August 3, 2018.
  22. ↑ Bomb maker planned an Islamist attack in a “busy place”. In: Die Welt , August 3, 2018.
  23. ↑ GBA: Charges on charges of preparing a serious act of violence that endanger the state and the like. a. raised. Press release of the Federal Prosecutor's Office, March 7, 2019, accessed on May 2, 2019.
  24. ↑ Main hearing in the proceedings against alleged Cologne ricin bomb makers. Press release of the OLG Düsseldorf, May 7, 2019, accessed on June 7, 2019.
  25. ↑ Ten years imprisonment for ricin bomb makers. Zeit Online, March 26, 2020, accessed on March 27, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Manufacturing instructions for ricin found. In: Heise.de, November 16, 2001.
  27. ↑ Rizin Fund shows how dependent Germany is on America. In: Die Welt , June 19, 2018.