BERLIN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- German federal prosecutors on Thursday charged a Tunisian of producing biological weapons after police discovered highly toxic substance in his apartment in Cologne.
The Federal Prosecutor General at the Federal Court of Justice said on its official website that an arrest warrant has been issued on Wednesday, adding that the 29-year-old Tunisian national Sief Allah H. is "strongly suspected of intentionally producing biological weapons".
In addition, the man was initially suspected of preparing a serious state-damaging act of violence. The accused was provisionally arrested on Wednesday in Cologne, and his home searched.
According to the arrest warrant which listed the charges against the suspect, as of mid-May 2018, the suspect began to procure equipment and substances necessary for the extraction of ricin, including 1,000 castor seeds and an electric coffee grinder on the Internet.
At the beginning of June 2018, the defendant successfully produced ricin, which is considered as one of the deadliest poisons in the world.
The prosecutor's office said it has not been clarified whether the Tunisian wanted to commit an Islamist-motivated attack in Germany, therefore, there is currently no acute suspicion for preparation of a serious state-damaging violence.
It added, there are no indications of involvement of the accused in a terrorist organization, nor of a planned attack.
The suspect was said to have arrived in Germany in November 2016.
