Iraq says it has uncovered an al Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons inside Iraq as well as smuggle them to Europe and North America.
Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said on Saturday five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.
The arrests were possible because of co-operation between Iraqi and foreign intelligence services, Mr Askari said.
Three workshops for manufacturing chemical agents, including sarin and mustard gas, were uncovered. Remote-controlled toy planes were also seized.
Mr Askari said they were to have been used to release chemical agents over the target from a "safe" distance of 1.5km.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq previously detonated crude chlorine bombs in Iraq between October 2006 - June 2007. The BBC reports many hundreds of people were sick, but no deaths resulting from exposure to the chemical were recorded.
