Tunisian suspected of making ricin for terror attack in Germany

German prosecutors say they’ve thwarted an Islamic extremist plot to launch an attack with the deadly toxin ricin.

They say a 29-year-old Tunisian, identified only as Sief Allah H., who was arrested yesterday, started procuring material online, including seeds needed for the creation of ricin in mid-May.

The suspect succeeded in creating the toxin this month and investigators found it in a search of his Cologne apartment, federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe say in a written statement.

“He procured 1,000 castor bean seeds online as well as an electronic coffee grinder,” they say. The shell of the castor bean plant seed is highly poisonous and can be used to create ricin.

The authorities are still investigating exactly how the suspect planned to use the toxin, but say he was working on a “biological weapon” attack in Germany.

Prosecutors say they currently have no evidence of a connection with any extremist organization.

They don’t immediately comment on a Bild newspaper report that American intelligence tipped off German investigators.

Bild also reported that the suspect bought bomb-making material and chemicals used in the production of the ricin.

The daily newspaper wrote that H. lived in the Chorweiler neighborhood of Cologne with his wife and four children. He supposedly used instructions for the making of a ricin bomb that had been posted online by the extremist Islamic State group.

— AP