Germany detains Iranian national suspected of planning a terror attack

By Pierre Meilhan, CNN

German police have detained an Iranian national on suspicion of planning a terror attack, authorities in the country said Sunday.

Police in the western city of Munster said the 32-year-old man is believed to have procured unspecified amounts of the toxins cyanide and ricin in preparation for an “Islamist-motivated attack.”

The suspect was detained following an investigation by the North Rhine-Westphalia Central Office for the Prosecution of Terrorism, a unit of the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to police.

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

Police seized electronic storage devices but found neither cyanide nor ricin during a search of the suspect’s home in the city of Castrop-Rauxel, Heming told the news agency.

An investigation is ongoing, police said, adding that another person was being held over the case.

Heming confirmed the person detained was the suspect’s brother, according to Reuters, and police said a decision on whether to issue an official arrest warrant would be made later.

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