FBI alerts police to ricin risk

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Friday, 10 January, 2003, 23:18 GMT

The FBI has alerted police in the United States to the dangers of a deadly poison ricin after small amounts of the toxin were discovered in a London flat.

The use of ricin "would be most effective in an assassination by injection or as a food contaminant," the special edition of the FBI Intelligence Bulletin warned on Friday.

The toxin could also be used in a terrorist operation to contaminate closed ventilation systems, water supplies, lakes and rivers, said the FBI according to Reuters news agency.

British anti-terrorist officers are questioning seven people in connection with the ricin discovery in a north London flat this week.

Police have said six of the suspects are in their late teens, 20s and 30s and are of North African descent.

Only small traces of ricin were found but biochemical experts are attempting to determine if more poison could have been made at the flat and moved.

Made from the beans of the castor plant, the toxin is a naturally occurring chemical that can be manufactured easily. more

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said all the arrests showed the continued threat of international terrorism was "present and real and with us now and its potential is huge".

-- Anonymous, January 11, 2003


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