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Ricin

US intercepts 'ricin' letter to Obama
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22190031

Jay Carney, White House spokesman: "They will be conducting further tests"

A letter addressed to US President Barack Obama apparently containing ricin has been intercepted.

Initial tests on the letter, identified at a remote facility, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.

The letter, which arrived at the facility on 16 April, is related to another laced with ricin intended for a US senator, the FBI said.

The FBI said there was "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack on Boston.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the letters addressed to the president and Republican Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.

The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.

They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."

The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.

Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
Earlier, police questioned a man in the area who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.

Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating.

All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.

Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.

It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Click to expand...
 
Obama 'ricin' letter suspect arrested
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22194061

Jay Carney, White House spokesman: "They will be conducting further tests"

An arrest has been made after letters containing suspected ricin were sent to US President Barack Obama and a US senator.

The alleged sender, Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, is a resident of Mississippi.

Initial tests on the letters, identified at remote facilities, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.

The FBI has said there is "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack in Boston.

The letters addressed to the president and Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.

The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.

They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."

The FBI said Mr Curtis also allegedly sent a third letter positively identified for ricin to a Mississippi justice official.

The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.

Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
Earlier, police questioned a man in the near the US capitol who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.

Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating. The staff member had no symptoms, Sen Levin said in a statement, but was staying overnight in hospital as a precaution.

All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.

Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.

It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Click to expand...
 
The person arrested seems to have been a lone wolf with a longstanding grudge involving a prior business and a purported conspiracy ....

Miss. man arrested for mailing suspected ricin

CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man accused of mailing letters with suspected ricin to national leaders believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and claimed "various parties within the government" were trying to ruin his reputation.
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested Wednesday at his home in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line.
Authorities were waiting for definitive tests on intercepted letters that were addressed to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Preliminary field tests can often show false positives for ricin. Ricin is derived from the castor plant that makes castor oil. There is no antidote and it's deadliest when inhaled.
An FBI intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press said the two letters were postmarked Memphis, Tenn.
Both letters said: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
It was not immediately known what charges Curtis faced.
The letters had Washington on edge in the days after the Boston Marathon bombing. As authorities scurried to investigate three questionable packages discovered in Senate office buildings Wednesday, reports of suspicious items also came in from at least three senators' offices in their home states. The items were found to be harmless.
In Corinth, a city of about 14,000, police cordoned off part of a subdivision where Curtis lived. At least five police cars were on the scene, but there didn't appear to be any hazardous-material crews and no neighbors were evacuated. The one-story, single-family home is similar to the others in the neighborhood, with red brick with white trim.
Neighbors, who said Curtis kept to himself and did not seem violent, were concerned by the idea that someone was making poison in the house that sits so close to their bedrooms and front yards.
Next-door neighbor Kayla Latch, 18, lives with her mother and her two brothers and said they were worried that toxic chemicals could be released when investigators enter the home.
"I'm afraid they might open it up and it (poison) might go into the air and hurt someone," Latch said.
Latch said Curtis lived with a woman and a teenage boy when he first moved in, but they appeared to have moved out.
Matthew Latch, Kayla's brother, said he would sometimes hear Curtis playing his guitar outside the house late at night.
Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis' cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.
"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview.
Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this. He said the writings were titled, "Missing Pieces."
A MySpace page for a cleaning company called The Cleaning Crew confirms that they "do windows" and has profile photo of "Kevin Curtis, Master of Impressions." A YouTube channel under the name of Kevin Curtis has dozens of videos of him performing as different famous musicians, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Kid Rock.
"As far as him being anti-government, I'm not going to say that, but he had some issues with some stuff that happened with his cleaning business," the cousin said.
Multiple online posts on various websites under the name Kevin Curtis refer to the conspiracy he claimed to uncover when working at a local hospital from 1998 to 2000.
The author wrote the conspiracy that began when he "discovered a refrigerator full of dismembered body parts & organs wrapped in plastic in the morgue of the largest non-metropolitan healthcare organization in the United States of America."
Curtis wrote that he was trying to "expose various parties within the government, FBI, police departments" for what he believed was "a conspiracy to ruin my reputation in the community as well as an ongoing effort to break down the foundation I worked more than 20 years to build in the country music scene."
In one post, Curtis said he sent letters to Wicker and other politicians.
"I never heard a word from anyone. I even ran into Roger Wicker several different times while performing at special banquets and fundraisers in northeast, Mississippi but he seemed very nervous while speaking with me and would make a fast exit to the door when I engaged in conversation..."
He signed off: "This is Kevin Curtis & I approve this message."
The FBI said there was no indication of a connection between the letters and the Monday bombing in Boston that killed three people and injured more than 170. The letters to Obama and Wicker were postmarked April 8, before the marathon.
Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said mail sent to the White House is screened at a remote site for the safety of the recipients and the general public. He declined to comment on the significance of the preliminary ricin result, referring questions to the FBI.
At a House hearing, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe noted there had been ricin alerts since the notorious 2001 anthrax mailings and procedures are in place to protect postal employees and help track down culprits.
"Over the course of years we've had some situations where there have been ricin scares," Donahoe said. "Until this date, there's never been any actually proved that have gone through the system."

SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/miss-man-arrested ... 45629.html
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I guess the simpleton expected Obama to lick the letter.


Considering that we have a large population, and that a certain percentage of any given population is bughouse, it's a wonder these incidents are so rare.

The CIA, at great trouble and expense got hold of the hideously lethal venom of a rare cone shell, lethal in a very short time, and in tiny quantities. It might have been used on very small darts to achieve the effect that poison darts have in the movies. hiss,thunk,plop.

When the USA renounced CBR weapons in the mid 70s, a small drum of this stuff was found in a vault, and the Democrats went witch hunting, howling in outrage.

Granted that it was something that was a bio weapon, it should have been destroyed, still, it had cost Uncle Sam a small fortune, and that it was more a weapon of certain, speedy individual destruction than a WMD.

The wacky world of spook weapons has again turned and bitten us.
 
Elvis not guilty!

US drops case against ricin letter suspect Paul Curtis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22273355

Paul Curtis: ''I respect President Obama and I love my country''

US authorities have dropped the charges against a Mississippi man accused of sending letters poisoned with ricin to President Barack Obama and a senator.

Paul Curtis was freed on Tuesday after prosecutors revealed the investigation had uncovered "new information".

The letters addressed to the president and a Mississippi senator tested positive for the presence of the lethal toxin this month.

Meanwhile, investigators in the case are searching the home of another man.

Mr Curtis was arrested last week at his home in the town of Corinth, Mississippi and charged with sending letters to Mr Obama, Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and a judge from Lee County.

'Very diabolical'
But on Monday authorities searched Mr Curtis' home and found neither ricin nor ingredients for the poison, an FBI agent testified in court. A search of his computer yielded no evidence he had researched how to make the toxin, the agent said.

In a news conference outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Mr Curtis thanked his family, friends, Jesus, Sen Wicker and Mr Obama.

"I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to [Mr Obama] or any other US official," said Mr Curtis, a musician and Elvis impersonator who also said he was a certified reflexologist.

"I would like to get back to normal, which for me means being the best father that I could be for my children and entertaining through my music."

He was already well known to Sen Wicker because he had written to the Republican senator and other officials.

Mr Curtis' lawyer Christi McCoy, whom Mr Curtis described as a blonde, blue-eyed angel sent by God, told reporters she believed the FBI agents who had arrested and charged her client had "acted in good faith".

Ms McCoy said she was unsure what new information prosecutors had but that the plot to frame her client was "very, very diabolical".

According to an FBI affidavit released on Thursday, the letters read: "Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die. To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."

The letters were signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."

Mensa dispute
As the case against Mr Curtis appeared to collapse on Monday and Tuesday, another man in nearby Tupelo, Mississippi, told the Associated Press authorities were searching his home in connection with the ricin letters.


Everett Dutschke denies sending the poisoned letter
Everett Dutschke said he was innocent, and the Associated Press reported agents from numerous law enforcement agencies had established a mobile crime lab near his home.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Mr Dutschke said. No charges have been filed against him nor has he been arrested.

The search team also combed through an area of woods and ditches about a block from Mr Dutschke's property.

Mr Dutschke said he and Mr Curtis had had a dispute, cutting off contact in 2010, after he threatened to sue Mr Curtis for saying he was a member of Mensa, a group for people with high IQs.

"I'm a patriotic American," Mr Dutschke, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Mississippi House of Representative in 2007, said. "I don't have any grudges against anybody. I did not send the letter."
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He probably won't be singing Jailhouse Rock again...
 
Mississippi man charged in US ricin letters inquiry
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22323146

Everett Dutschke has links to Paul Curtis, against whom charges were dropped this week

A man has been arrested in Mississippi and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Obama, a senator and a judge.

Everett Dutschke was detained at home in Tupelo on Saturday and handed over to US Marshals, police said.

Mr Dutschke has been charged with possessing a biological agent with intent to use as a weapon.

He has links to a man against whom charges were filed and later dropped, as well as the senator and judge.

Ricin is a naturally occurring protein, found in the castor oil plant, which is highly toxic. It is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.

List of names
Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton said Mr Dutschke was taken into custody without incident at 01:00 (06:00 GMT) on Saturday. His home had been under surveillance since Friday afternoon.

A law enforcement official told WTVA that the 41-year-old was being held at the Lafayette County Detention Center.

Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
The US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Mississippi said in a press release that Mr Dutschke had been charged with developing, producing and possessing "a biological agent, toxin and delivery system for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin".

If convicted of the federal charge, he faces a maximum life term in jail and a $250,000 fine.

The office said Mr Dutschke was expected to appear in a district court in Mississippi on Monday.

Agents from the FBI and the US Capitol Police, as well as members of an anti-terrorist response team from the Mississippi National Guard, had searched Mr Dutschke's home on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the premises of a former martial arts studio he ran in Tupelo.

Attention turned to Mr Dutschke after charges were dropped on Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, a local Elvis impersonator.

A search of Mr Curtis' home in nearby Corinth revealed no evidence to suggest he had sent the ricin-laced letters to President Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi Judge Sadie Holland, officials said.


Agents searched the premises of a former martial arts studio Mr Dutschke ran in Tupelo
Hal Neilson, a lawyer for Mr Curtis, said Mr Dutschke's name had been submitted on a list of people who might have had a reason to hurt his client.

Mr Curtis said he had worked with Mr Dutschke several years ago, and that they had discussed publishing a book called Missing Pieces, about an alleged conspiracy to sell body parts on the black market. Mr Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Mr Curtis added.

But Mr Dutschke told the Associated Press that he did not know Mr Curtis well, and that the last time they had contact was in 2010.

Judge Holland's family is reported to have confronted Mr Dutschke at a political rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when he ran as a Republican against her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative. Mr Holland said Mr Dutschke had made a derogatory speech about the Holland family, and that his mother had forced him to apologise.

Mr Dutschke said Steve Holland had exaggerated the incident, telling AP: "Everybody loves Sadie, including me."

He is also reported to know Senator Wicker.
Click to expand...
 
krakenten said:
I guess the simpleton expected Obama to lick the letter.


Considering that we have a large population, and that a certain percentage of any given population is bughouse, it's a wonder these incidents are so rare.

The CIA, at great trouble and expense got hold of the hideously lethal venom of a rare cone shell, lethal in a very short time, and in tiny quantities. It might have been used on very small darts to achieve the effect that poison darts have in the movies. hiss,thunk,plop.

When the USA renounced CBR weapons in the mid 70s, a small drum of this stuff was found in a vault, and the Democrats went witch hunting, howling in outrage.

Granted that it was something that was a bio weapon, it should have been destroyed, still, it had cost Uncle Sam a small fortune, and that it was more a weapon of certain, speedy individual destruction than a WMD.

The wacky world of spook weapons has again turned and bitten us.
Click to expand...

are you referring to saxitoxin?
 
The substance was referred to as 'shellfish toxin' , and was derived from a cone shell found in the pacific.

The mollusk is prized by collectors, after death, it develops beautiful colors.

this creature is a fascinating life form, it delivers the toxin by way of an organic harpoon, launched from within its shell.

the sea is a very strange place.
 
This time its an actress from The Walking Dead & The Vampire Diaries!

Actress Shannon Richardson pleads guilty in ricin case
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25326964

Shannon Richardson is pictured in this booking photo from the Titus County Sheriff's Office, made available on 8 June 2013

Shannon Richardson was pregnant with her sixth child at the time of her arrest in June

An actress from Texas has pleaded guilty to posting ricin-laced letters to US President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Shannon Richardson, 35, faces up to 18 years in prison.

Before her arrest in June, she accused her estranged husband Nathaniel of sending the three poisoned letters in an apparent attempt to frame him.

Richardson has played small roles in The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead, according to IMDB.

Husband framed

Mayor Bloomberg said at the time he would not be intimidated by the poisoned post
Richardson appeared in a federal court in Texarkana, Texas, on Tuesday, pleading guilty to possessing and producing a biological toxin, which could have carried a sentence of life in prison.

Under the plea deal with federal prosecutors, she faces a maximum of 18 years. She will be formally sentenced at a later date.

Richardson's lawyer Tonda Curry said she was eager to "admit her role in ordering the components to make the ricin, her role in the letters that contained the ricin, and to tell the government who else was involved in those offenses".

Officials say Richardson contacted the FBI on 30 May to implicate her estranged husband, from whom she was getting a divorce, in the letters.

According to a federal indictment, one letter to Mr Obama read: "What's in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president."

Another letter received by Mr Bloomberg, a gun control advocate, contained a threat to "shoot in the face" anyone who came for the sender's guns.

A third ricin-laced letter was opened by Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a gun control advocacy group founded by Mr Bloomberg.

Failed lie detector test
Nathan Richardson (right) appeared with his lawyer, John Delk, on 12 June 2013
Nathaniel Richardson (right) was in the process of divorcing his wife when the letters were sent
A lawyer for Nathaniel Richardson, a military mechanic at a Texarkana Army depot, previously said the couple was in the process of divorcing during the time the letters were sent.

The couple were expecting their first child together. Ms Richardson has five other children from previous relationships.

Officials investigating Shannon Richardson's story found a number of inconsistencies and she later failed a lie-detector test, according to an FBI affidavit.

During a subsequent interview with authorities, Richardson reportedly admitted posting the letters, knowing they contained ricin.

But she claimed her husband had typed them before making her post them. No charges have been filed against Mr Richardson.
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James Dutschke pleads guilty to sending ricin letters
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25787936

James Dutschke, police handout photo

Investigators believe Dutschke tried to frame an acquaintance in the case

A Mississippi man has pleaded guilty to sending President Barack Obama letters laced with the poison ricin.

James Everett Dutschke, 42, admitted he also sent poisoned letters to Republican US Senator Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge.

Dutschke is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Police initially arrested a local Elvis impersonator in the case but later determined Dutschke had framed him.

The two had known each other but had developed a rivalry and enmity.

Ricin is a naturally occurring protein found in the castor oil plant that is highly toxic. It is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.

The letters to Mr Obama and Mr Wicker were intercepted. The Mississippi judge received the ricin-tainted letter, but she was not harmed.

In separate cases last year, letters containing ricin were sent to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to President Obama and to the CIA.

A Texas actress was implicated in letters sent to Mr Bloomberg and Mr Obama.
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ramonmercado said:
...Police initially arrested a local Elvis impersonator in the case but later determined Dutschke had framed him.

The two had known each other but had developed a rivalry and enmity...

...A Texas actress was implicated in letters sent to Mr Bloomberg and Mr Obama.
Click to expand...

Sometimes life is a Coen brothers movie.
 
Spookdaddy said:
ramonmercado said:
...Police initially arrested a local Elvis impersonator in the case but later determined Dutschke had framed him.

The two had known each other but had developed a rivalry and enmity...

...A Texas actress was implicated in letters sent to Mr Bloomberg and Mr Obama.
Click to expand...

Sometimes life is a Coen brothers movie.
Click to expand...

Yeah, she was in The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries.
 
Never know what you find in a cupboard at the NIH.

NIH finds old ricin, other forgotten germs in labs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Institutes of Health said it has uncovered a nearly century-old container of ricin and a handful of other forgotten samples of dangerous pathogens as it combs its laboratories for improperly stored hazardous materials.

The agency began an intensive investigation of all its facilities after a scientist in July found vials of smallpox dating from the 1950s, along with other contagious viruses and bacteria that had been stored and forgotten in one lab on the NIH's campus.

Friday, the NIH said in different facilities, it found small amounts of five improperly stored "select agents," pathogens that must be registered and kept only in certain highly regulated laboratories. All were found in sealed and intact containers, with no evidence that they posed a safety risk to anyone in the labs or surrounding areas, the agency said in a memo to employees. All have been destroyed.

They included a bottle of ricin, a highly poisonous toxin, found in a box with microbes dating from 1914 and thought to be 85 to 100 years old, the memo said. The bottle was labeled as originally containing 5 grams, although NIH doesn't know how much was left.

Ricin has legitimate research uses, the NIH said, but was not studied in this lab.

Also discovered were samples listing pathogens that cause botulism, plague, tularemia and a rare tropical infection called melioidosis. ...

http://news.msn.com/us/nih-finds-old-ri ... ms-in-labs
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A statue has been inaugurated in Bulgaria to the dissident playwright Georgi Markov, who was assassinated in London in 1978. Markov, who worked at the BBC World Service, was poisoned, apparently on the orders of Bulgaria's then communist authorities. ...

Markov was waiting for a bus on Waterloo Bridge when he felt a sharp jab in the leg and saw a man nearby dropping an umbrella. After developing a fever, he died five days later in hospital on 11 September, aged 49. The pellet, possibly containing ricin, is thought to have been fired either from the umbrella or a pen into his thigh ...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30010515
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A man tried to use the anonymous "dark web" to buy "enough ricin to kill up to 1,400 people", a court has heard.

Mohammed Ammer Ali, 31, of Prescot Road, Liverpool, then set about finding a rabbit or other "pocket-sized pet" to test it on, the Old Bailey heard.

He tried to purchase a lethal dose of the toxin online, but was caught by an undercover FBI agent posing as a seller, prosecutors said.

Mr Ali denies a charge of attempting to possess a chemical weapon.

In encrypted chats, Mr Ali and the US agent discussed the price of a lethal dose and repeat purchases, jurors were told.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-33607623
 
A computer programmer in Britain was sentenced Friday to eight years behind bars for ordering the deadly poison ricin online in February, inspired by the drug-fueled TV show “Breaking Bad.”

Mohammed Ali, 31, said he was just curious about seeing how it works, and planned to test the poison by killing animals.

“Everyone needs to know that the possession of a chemical weapon is extremely serious and long prison sentences will follow,” Justin John Saunders said while handing down Ali’s sentence.

Ali, of Liverpool, apparently had no intention to sell the poison. He found it on the dark web, under the username Weirdos 0000, and arranged for five vials to be delivered inside a toy car.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...aking-bad-bought-ricin-on-dark-web/ar-AAetfHs
 
How many WTFs can there be in one story? [Granted some are the fault of the journalism!]*

How much of the much-publicized Dark Web is spun by the FBI?

The "undercover FBI agent" supplied five vials of this deadly stuff to a clown calling himself "Weirdos 0000"?*

If it was delivered, why were they awaiting his arrival with it?

Maybe he had to collect it from a parcel depot. Why not nab him there?

Perhaps because Prescott Road is a busy thoroughfare and more photogenic?

All this ultra-violet light stuff sounds straight from tv drama.

"Get pet to murder." Is it "pet" which disturbs most here or "murder?":confused:

Is it one of those shopping-list things which easily slips your mind like bin liners or tin foil?

*Edit: The BBC version of the story makes it clear that "a harmless marker powder" was sent. This probably explains the ultra-violet light trick.

If I had been asked to guess the age of the offender from the nature of the crime, I would have pictured a morbid, isolated teenager of around fifteen. At thirty-one with two children of his own, how could Ali sustain the secret luxury of such a destructive fantasy life?

Edit 2: The Asperger's diagnosis appears to have been the defence case with a clinical psychologist called to testify to Ali's obsession with computers from childhood Nintendo addiction. She went on to say that his misadventures on the Dark Web were "motivated with pushing the boundaries of what was possible with the technology."
The pursuit of his interest was entirely for itself and “not for money or glory or power”, she said.

So that's all right then!
 
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Makes you wonder if the FBI are the biggest, nay, only supplier of ricin on the "dark web". Or powder pretending to be. In any case, a man who plans to make poisoning animals to death his new hobby is best not encouraged, to say the least.
 
GNC said:
Makes you wonder if the FBI are the biggest, nay, only supplier of ricin on the "dark web". Or powder pretending to be. In any case, a man who plans to make poisoning animals to death his new hobby is best not encouraged, to say the least.
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Didn't the FBI agent suggest testing the powder on rodents?

Had the whole game gone wrong, we might be discussing the phantom rat of Prescott Road! :oops:
 
Surprised he didn't use the Rentokill defence (if there is such a thing).
 
GNC said:
Makes you wonder if the FBI are the biggest, nay, only supplier of ricin on the "dark web". Or powder pretending to be. In any case, a man who plans to make poisoning animals to death his new hobby is best not encouraged, to say the least.
Click to expand...
Powder?
I thought it was a liquid.

Edit: Googled it - oh yeah, it is a powder.
 
Oh dear...
 
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