ISIS-couple accused of building deadly biological bomb on trial in Germany

An IS-supporting husband and wife, who were allegedly caught with a deadly homemade ricin bomb, are now on trial in Dusseldorf. They were planning what could have been Germany’s first bioweapon attack.

Covering their faces and refusing to speak, 30-year-old Tunisian Sief Allah and his 43-year-old German wife Yasmin began the first day of their 18 days of trial in the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court Friday. 

Although the couple refuses to cooperate, the state believes it has already gathered enough evidence to convict them by the end of August. They face up to 15 years in prison.

The two were arrested last summer following a police raid, accused of planning “to kill and wound the largest possible number of people" with a ricin bomb they made at home. Sief is alleged to have been in contact with people from the Islamic State who encouraged the attack, and had twice attempted to travel to Syria.

Prosecutors say that the authorities were tipped off when the couple ordered suspicious ingredients on the internet which they had used to create a small amount of ricin, a poison which is 6,000 times more potent than cyanide, and can be lethal if inhaled.

Police also found bomb components including 250 metal balls which could have been used as shrapnel, two bottles of nail polish remover and wires soldered onto lightbulbs. One expert said the attack could have killed as many as 100 people.

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