A teenager in eastern Germany is accused of producing the deadly biological warfare agent ricin in his family’s attic. Police said the suspect remains at large.
Police in Germany searched the home of a 16-year-old in the eastern state of Saxony on Thursday on suspicion of possessing the highly toxic biological warfare agent ricin.
The teenager is alleged to have manufactured and stored several vials of a mixture of the plant toxins ricin and aconitine in a specially equipped laboratory in the attic of his family’s house.
What do we know about the ricin raid?
The Saxony State Office of Criminal Investigation and the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office said proceedings were underway into a suspected offense under the Weapons of War Act.
Investigations to date have not revealed any indications as to the purpose for which the suspect was manufacturing the substances.
Police said they were sifting through the “purpose-built laboratory,” seeking “to seize all toxic substances and other evidence.”
Experts from Germany’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), were also at the scene.
The emergency services cordoned off a large area of the premises, and all access roads were also closed. The 16-year-old was said to be at large.
Prosecutors said no arrest warrant had been issued and that the boy currently had no criminal record. As a result, there were no reasons requiring his detention, they said. It was unclear if the teen’s parents had any knowledge of his alleged activities.
In January 2023, authorities arrested a 32-year-old Iranian man and his 25-year-old brother in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia on suspicion of planning an Islamist-motivated chemical attack using ricin and cyanide.
In 2018, an Islamist couple in Germany was convicted for plotting a ricin bomb attack using castor seeds, explosives, and ball bearings.
How dangerous is ricin?
Ricin is one of the deadliest plant-based toxins known to science and is classified as a biological weapon under Germany’s Weapons of War Act.
The substance is extracted from the seeds of the castor oil plant. While all parts of the plant are toxic, this is particularly true of the bean-shaped seeds.
It is lethal in minute doses when swallowed, inhaled or injected, being 6,000 times more potent than cyanide, with no known antidote.
Aconitine is among the fastest-acting and lethal natural poisons affecting the heart. The alkaloid is contained in the aconite plant, also known as wolf’s bane, and monkhood.
Around 2 to 6 milligrams of pure aconitine can be fatal for adults, according to the RKI.
