Posted on 01/07/2003 9:05:21 AM PST by snippy_about_it
Anti-terrorist police are questioning six men after discovering traces of the highly toxic poison ricin in London.
The toxin, to which there is no antidote, has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
It causes massive damage to internal organs, and normally kills within three days of ingestion.
The men are of north African origin. They were arrested after an operation by the anti-terrorist branch in north and east London on Sunday.
Scotland Yard said equipment and materials were found at an address in Wood Green in north London, where one of the man was also arrested. A woman also arrested has since been released.
Assassination
Ricin was the poison used to murder Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov in a poisoned umbrella assassination in London in 1978.
Public health workers throughout the NHS have been alerted to be on the lookout for symptoms of ricin exposure in patients.
It is understood that so far no-one has been to a doctor showing any signs of having been in contact with the toxin.
Today's news comes weeks after security sources warned of a possible terror attack involving London underground.
Statement
In a joint statement, anti-terrorist chief David Veness and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Pat Troop said: "A small amount of the material recovered from the Wood Green premises has been tested positive for the presence of ricin poison.
"Our primary concern is the safety of the public and the police have worked closely with the Department of Health throughout.
"The Department is now alerting the health service, including primary care, about these developments.
"It is also ensuring that the health service is able to provide advice to the public, including through NHS Direct.
Investigations
The statement adds: "Intensive police investigations are continuing and forensic analysis of the premises in Wood Green will take some time to complete.
"While our message is still 'alert not alarm', we would re-iterate our earlier appeals for the public to remain vigilant and aware and report anything suspicious to police.
Terrorist expert Professor Paul Wilkinson told Sky News: "Ricin is not an obvious weapon to use to cause mass injury, but it is worrying that such a poison was being held so near to an array of targets in central London."
You and I and everyone else should still be concerned. Those animals are probably not the only ones in possession of that lethal toxin.
This will be Al Qaeda's undoing. Instead of fighting a two-front war against the U.S. and Israel, which all our "allies" (except our one true ally, Britain) have baldly demonstrated they don't want any part of, AQ is opening over a dozen fronts, and racking up the number of powerful nations seeking to destroy them.
This sort of unfocused violence puts AQ in the category of "mad dogs", instead of "freedom fighters". As their list of enemies multiplies, their support, even from the most diehard of Saudis (after AQ starts bumping them off), will eventually evaporate.
The only ones cheering for Al Qaeda will be those who support senseless, random murder. Even Arabs have limits to how much of that they will support. They prefer murder for a reason of some kind. As AQ becomes more random and threatens more and more groups, they dilute their support base.
Al Qaeda isn't even good enough to be classified as a virus. It's an evolutionary dead end.
Like the dodo, they will be hunted to extinction.
You've just written the history of Islam.
Muslims from either Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, or Egypt.
What do they mean by "umbrella assassination "?
Well lets see...
It was reported today that in 1998 the UN listed Risin as one of the poisons unaccounted by Iraq.
There was an alert a week or two ago which had security in several countries looking for chemical weapons supplosedly passed to Al Quaida from Iraqi agents.;
The US appears to be preparing for war with all possible speed.
I think I'll pass on that bet.
No, it is on what is referred to as the "horn" of Africa, on the east side, near the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Almost the same week, another Bulgarian defector, Vladimir Kostov, was in similar way attacked in Paris. He survived (and lives now in Bulgaria) after being very seriously ill for rather long time.
I mean, it gives some hope, isn't it?
Almost the same week, another Bulgarian defector, Vladimir Kostov, was in similar way attacked in Paris. He survived (and lives now in Bulgaria) after being very seriously ill for rather long time.
I mean, it gives some hope, doesn't it?
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