United Kingdom:  Police Searching For Three More Ricin Suspects

British anti-terrorist police are searching today for three suspects and a stockpile of the chemical agent ricin, the London Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 7; London Times, Jan. 8).

The new search follows Sunday’s arrest of six men suspected of having links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the London Independent reported today.  Authorities found traces of ricin in a laboratory in one suspect’s north London apartment (Bennetto/Sengupta, London Independent, Jan. 8).

The six are being held without charge under recently strengthened British anti-terrorism laws (see GSN, Dec. 14, 2001; Glenn Frankel, Washington Post, Jan. 8).

One of the arrested men is a chemist or science teacher and four of them are Algerian — the other two are of North African origin, the Times reported.

Police officials, who searched the apartment in protective clothing, took equipment from the homemade laboratory and also discovered castor oil seeds, which are used to make ricin, the Times reported

“This was a very low-tech, small production,” said Pat Troop, a British medical official.  “If we find any more it’s likely to be a small amount,” Troop said (London Times, Jan. 8).

British officials issued a nationwide alert yesterday and asked physicians to keep watch for patients with symptoms of ricin poisoning.  Police conducted Sunday’s raids after British intelligence officials acquired information on suspected terrorists in London and mounted a month-long law enforcement operation, the Independent reported.

Authorities said that the amount of ricin found in the London apartment is insufficient to mount a major attack, and that there was no evidence of a specific target or plot (Bennetto/Sengupta, London Independent, Jan. 8).

Technicians at Porton Down defense laboratory confirmed the ricin discovery yesterday, the Washington Post reported today.

The raids come after numerous recent alarms and warnings, months of readiness and the arrests of dozens of suspected terrorists, the Post reported.  Three recently detained suspects reportedly discussed an attack on the London subways (see GSN, Feb. 27, 2002).

Ricin Found in Afghanistan

Traces of ricin and instructions on its use were discovered last year in an al-Qaeda house in Afghanistan, the Post reported.  Iraq has also worked on developing ricin as a weapon, experts said.

Ricin was developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was famously used by Bulgarian secret police in 1978 to kill their compatriot, Georgi Markov, while he was exiled in London.  Markov died after an assassin implanted a ricin pellet in Markov’s leg using a specially equipped umbrella (Frankel, Washington Post).

Deadly Ricin Easily Produced

Anyone with a college-level knowledge of chemistry and a basic laboratory can produce ricin by extracting the poison from the seeds of a castor oil plant, the Financial Times reported today.

Less than 0.1 milligrams of ricin can kill an adult, although symptoms would not appear until four to eight hours after exposure, the Times reported.  Even then, the symptoms are not clearly indistinguishable from other sicknesses.  To be used as a weapon of mass destruction, ricin must be distributed as an aerosol, the Times reported.  Animal studies suggest that inhaled ricin would cause inflammation of the lungs and death within two to four days. 

Scientists do not have an antidote to ricin, but U.S. pharmaceutical company DOR BioPharma said yesterday it is working on a vaccine, according to the Times (see GSN, Oct. 16, 2002; Clive Cookson, Financial Times, Jan. 8).

Back to top

United Kingdom:  British Officials Arrest Six Men After Ricin Discovery

British officials arrested six men Sunday in connection with the discovery of the toxic poison ricin in London (see GSN, Oct. 16).

Police also detained and then released a woman Sunday, but officers from the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch are questioning the men, who are of North African origin.

Officials are conducting a forensic analysis of an address in north London, where one of the men was arrested.  Police said that “equipment and materials” were found at that location.

“We have previously said that London and indeed the rest of the U.K. continues to face a range of terrorist threats from a number of different groups,” a police statement said (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 7).

Back to top

Israel:  Imprisoned Palestinians Planned to Make Chemical Weapons

A group of Palestinian militants held in a Israeli prison planned to attack prison officials with chemical bombs, but were discovered last week before they could carry out the attack, the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv reported Sunday (see GSN, Aug. 2).

Officials at the Shiqma prison last week raided the cells of a prisoners’ group known as the “engineers” and found detailed information on how to produce chemical bombs using various medical supplies, according to Ma’ariv.  The prisoners had acquired medicines, including mercury, alcohol and Vaseline, from the prison clinic after complaining of various ailments.  Officials also discovered that the prisoners planned to build chemical laboratories in their cells, Ma’ariv reported (Shim’on Epergin, Ma’ariv, Jan. 5 in FBIS-NES, Jan. 5).

Back to top

Threat Assessment:  Taliban Claims Chemical Weapons Capability

Remaining Taliban forces in Afghanistan possess chemical weapons, a former Taliban diplomat said during a secretive news conference Friday in Pakistan, near the Afghan border (see GSN, Oct. 8, 2002).

“Mujahadeen are now in possession of chemical and other sophisticated weapons provided by friendly countries.  We have still not used them,” said Naseer Ahmad Rohi, former first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan did not supply the weapons, according to Rohi (Outlook India.com, Jan. 4).

The weapons “will be used at a suitable time,” Rohi told journalists in Peshawar, about 30 kilometers from the Afghan border.  The remaining Taliban militants “have the right to use chemical weapons against the Americans as a revenge,” he added.

Pakistani security officials doubted the claims, Australia’s Herald Sun reported (Herald Sun, Jan. 4).

U.S. officials are scrutinizing the claims and U.S. forces are stepping up their pursuit of Osama bin Laden and the remaining Taliban leadership, Pakistan’s The Nation reported today.

“The Bush administration is in the process of ascertaining the veracity of Taliban’s claims that they possess the deadly chemical weapons for which the United States has activated its intelligence apparatus,” sources said Monday (Shaiq Hussain, The Nation, Jan. 7).

Back to top

United States:  Army Releases Final Impact Statement for Blue Grass Depot

The U.S. Army has released an 854-page final environmental impact statement examining four alternative methods for destroying chemical weapons at its Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 21, 2002).

A 30-day waiting period on the statement ends Jan. 26 and military officials will then identify the method that will be used to destroy chemical weapons at the depot.

Neutralization followed by water oxidation is the preferred method for disposal, according to a November Pentagon memorandum, AP reported (Associated Press, Jan. 2).

Back to top

Russia:  Ten Tons of Chemical Weapons Destroyed in 2002

Russia destroyed the first 10 tons of its chemical weapons stockpile in 2002, ITAR-Tass reported Monday (see GSN, Dec. 31, 2002).

The effort to destroy Russia’s 40,000 tons of chemical weapons will speed up this year, said Alexander Kharichev, deputy chairman of the governmental commission for chemical disarmament.

“The quantity of destroyed chemical substances will significantly increase after the tuning of equipment and choice of optimal regimens,” according to Kharichev.

Russia is currently disposing of 800 to 1,500 kilograms of mustard gas daily at the country’s Gorny plant, he said (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002).

“Russia will destroy 400 tons of chemical weapons by April 2003, thereby meeting its international obligations,” Kharichev said (see GSN, Oct. 15, 2002; ITAR-Tass, Dec. 30, 2002 in FBIS-SOV, Dec. 30, 2002).

Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP