Ricin Traces Found in Paris Railway

[renata]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20030320/wl_nm/france_ricin_dc


I wonder if it is somwhow connected with the ricin found in England? How common is ricin, anyway? Would anyone have legitimate reasons for posessing ricin? Wonder if it will change France's position on US and terrorism? Wild speculations are swirling in my head.

[Hypocolius]

Originally posted by renata
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20030320/wl_nm/france_ricin_dc


I wonder if it is somwhow connected with the ricin found in England? How common is ricin, anyway? Would anyone have legitimate reasons for posessing ricin? Wonder if it will change France's position on US and terrorism? Wild speculations are swirling in my head.

I don't know if you guys will remember the assassination in London in the early '80's involving an air-rifle disguised as an umbrella, shooting a tiny pellet containing Ricin into the leg of a Hungarian dissident(or was it Rumanian? Bulgarian? They all look the same to me!). Well, it just so happens that another dissident had been attacked a couple of weeks before...in Paris! (the thick plottens). The (Paris) dissident said he had been stabbed in the chest with an umbrella, but the medical exam had revealed nothing untoward, and nothing further was thought of the incident. After the London assassination the Paris victim was recalled to hospital where an X-ray revealed the presence of a tiny metal ball in his chest! When it was removed it was discovered that the pellet still contained the deadly dose of Ricin, but the wax used to seal off the tiny aperture in the pellet through which the Ricin had been inserted had too high a melting point, ie above blood temperature. So, the deadly poison had remained in place for over two weeks before being detected!

What's the point of all this? None really, except the forensic pathologist who made the original discovery was a client of mine a few years back, and he told me the whole story. I've just been awaiting an opportunity to pass it on, and this is the closest I've got to a relevant topic (Paris and Ricin in the same thread!).

On topic, I think Ricin is pretty deadly, but the method of delivery means that it might not be suitable for a WMD.

[Hypocolius]

Oops, cock up alert!

[renata]

Originally posted by Hypocolius


I don't know if you guys will remember the assassination in London in the early '80's involving an air-rifle disguised as an umbrella, shooting a tiny pellet containing Ricin into the leg of a Hungarian dissident(or was it Rumanian? Bulgarian?

Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, a writer. One of many KGB victims. I think the assassin was never caught. I thought it was a jab, not an air rifle, but I could be wrong.




What's the point of all this? None really, except the phorensic pathologist who made the original discovery was a client of mine a few years back, and he told me the whole story. I've just been awaiting an opportunity to pass it on, and this is the closest I've got to a relevant topic (Paris and Ricin in the same thread!).

On topic, I think Ricin is pretty deadly, but the method of delivery means that it might not be suitable for a WMD.


I think it is a very interesting story. I wonder if there are any other victims of assassinations, in whom the poison went undetected. Markov was killed in late seventies. Around the same time, Alexander Galich died in France- I do not recall the cause of death, but he was banished from USSR a few years prior to his death.

[Hypocolius]

Originally posted by renata
I thought it was a jab, not an air rifle, but I could be wrong.


Yeah, that's what I thought, but apparently not. The doc who told me about this was the pathologist called in to examine the body. The guy had collapsed and died at a bus-stop, with no apparent foul play, but because of who he was the Met had a few suspicions so called for a PM. My interlocuter was the bloke who actually found the puncture wound. He thought himself that it was a hypodermic wound, so took a core sample (just like coring an apple apparently) and sent it off for examination. the first thing they do on these exams is x-ray the sample, and there was the pellet! Very clever.

[renata]

Originally posted by Hypocolius


Yeah, that's what I thought, but apparently not. The doc who told me about this was the pathologist called in to examine the body. The guy had collapsed and died at a bus-stop, with no apparent foul play, but because of who he was the Met had a few suspicions so called for a PM. My interlocuter was the bloke who actually found the puncture wound. He thought himself that it was a hypodermic wound, so took a core sample (just like coring an apple apparently) and sent it off for examination. the first thing they do on these exams is x-ray the sample, and there was the pellet! Very clever.


I do not think this info is correct. I recall reading that Markov did not collapse immediately, he was sick for a few days with fever, and then died.
Checking...
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/1996/09/F.RU.960918155306.html

Having parked the car, Markov climbed the stairs to the bus stop. As he neared the queue of people waiting for the bus, he experienced a sudden stinging pain in the back of his right thigh. He turned and saw a man bending to pick up a dropped umbrella.

The man was facing away from Markov. He apologized. Markov subsequently remembered that the apology was made in a foreign accent. The man then hailed a taxi and departed. Markov later described him as heavy set and about 40 years old.

Though in pain, Markov boarded the bus to work. But the pain continued. Markov noticed a small blood spot on his jeans. He told colleagues at the BBC what happened and showed one friend a pimple-like red swelling on his thigh. By evening, Markov had developed a high fever.

His wife called a colleague at BBC, who took Markov to a London hospital, where he was treated for an undetermined form of blood poisoning. His condition worsened. He was not responding to doctors' efforts. The next day he went into shock, and after three days of agony he died.

The preliminary diagnosis indicated that the death was caused by "septicemia, a form of blood poisoning caused by bacterial toxins, possibly a result of kidney failure."

Various newspapers in London carried the story of Markov's death as front page news. Scotland Yard began an investigation into the death.

An autopsy was performed at Wandsworth Public Mortuary. The doctors found a tiny metal pinhead in the wound. When they attempted to extract the "pin," a tiny pellet fell on the table. Upon a microscopic examination, it was established that the pellet had minuscule holes.

Further examination of the pellet at the Chemical and Micro-biological Warfare Establishment at Porton Down found that two 0.34 millimeter holes had been drilled in the pellet, producing an X-shaped cavity. The holes were empty.

This prevented investigators from establishing the type of substance that had been used, but was sufficient to determine that Markov had "not died of natural causes." British Anti-Terrorist Squad (BATS), detectives then joined the Scotland Yard investigating team.

After weeks of research and experimentation, in January 1979, a coroner's inquest in London ruled that Markov had been murdered via a poison called ricin. A Scotland Yard detective said the investigation team traveled to France, Italy, Germany, and the United States searching for possible suspects. None was found.

[a_unique_person]

Ricin is apparently relatively easy to manufacture, as it is an extract of linseed oil seeds.

[My Final Spider]

From the castor bean plant, apparently:

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/ricin/ricin.html

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by My Final Spider
From the castor bean plant, apparently:

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/ricin/ricin.html

oops, wrong plant. but still a pretty easy thing to get hold of.

[John Bryce]

Some more infomation on Ricin. (http://www.nbc-med.org/SiteContent/MedRef/OnlineRef/FieldManuals/medman/Ricin.htm)

Ricin is a potent protein toxin derived from the beans of the castor plant (Ricinus communis). Castor beans are ubiquitous worldwide, and the toxin is fairly easily produced. Ricin is therefore a potentially widely available toxin. When inhaled as a small particle aerosol, this toxin may produce pathologic changes within 8 hours and severe respiratory symptoms followed by acute hypoxic respiratory failure in 36-72 hours. When ingested, ricin causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms followed by vascular collapse and death. This toxin may also cause disseminated intravascular coagulation, microcirculatory failure and multiple organ failure if given intravenously in laboratory animals.

[Hypocolius]

Originally posted by renata



I do not think this info is correct. I recall reading that Markov did not collapse immediately, he was sick for a few days with fever, and then died.
Checking...
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/1996/09/F.RU.960918155306.html



Fair enough, some of the details were a bit hazy (it was a while ago). The most interesting (to me) parts were omitted from that story however, ie the method of sealing off the tiny holes with a very low melting temperature wax, and the link with the French based dissident.

[Questioninggeller]

Originally posted by Hypocolius
I don't know if you guys will remember the assassination in London in the early '80's involving an air-rifle disguised as an umbrella, shooting a tiny pellet containing Ricin into the leg of a Hungarian dissident(or was it Rumanian? Bulgarian?


No but I am interested in this, could you send me a link to something about this. Thanks. :)

[Hypocolius]

Originally posted by Questioninggeller


No but I am interested in this, could you send me a link to something about this. Thanks. :)

The link that Renata posted seems quite good. My info was a pers. comm. from someone involved in the case (and a few years later, so some of the details are hazy.) Some of the details I was told, which are not in (or different from) the article Renata posted:
1) Air-rifle. I am positive this is what I was told, though on reflection the doc I spoke to was involved in the medical side, so may well not have accurate knowledge about the investigative side.
2) Similar attack in Paris a couple of weeks previously. This again I am positive about. The doc was involved with communications with the French doctors, so would have had knowledge of this.
3) How the pellet was found. I am fairly sure that I was told it was by x-ray, but not 100% positive. Either scenario seems equally likely to me.

[svero]

Originally posted by renata
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=574&ncid=721&e=1&u=/nm/20030320/wl_nm/france_ricin_dc


I wonder if it is somwhow connected with the ricin found in England? How common is ricin, anyway? Would anyone have legitimate reasons for posessing ricin? Wonder if it will change France's position on US and terrorism? Wild speculations are swirling in my head.

Yeah well when the CIA planted the ricin and informed french authorities where it could be found through an anonymous phone call they hoped it would change France's tune too. Is that the kind of speculation you mean?

Turns out that france is not such a bad country after all though. They've now converted the statue of liberty into a big moving liberty immigration processing robot which literally reaches down and picks arab immigrants off of ships coming into the harbor and places them in small detention centers for processing 15 years after this war is over and they've had time to cool off. It's part of the new joint French homeland security initiative. Operation Golderak.

[John Bryce]

Originally posted by Questioninggeller


No but I am interested in this, could you send me a link to something about this. Thanks. :)

There is a lot of information the web on this subject. I found many sites by doing a Google search.

As for what device was used to inject the ricin, according to BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2636459.stm), no one knows for sure:

Accounts of the incident differ. Some say a ricin-laced pellet was either fired or injected from an umbrella tip as Markov waited at the bus stop, on his way to the headquarters of the BBC's World Service.

Other accounts suggest the assailant used a syringe to inject the poison into Mr Markov's leg as he bent down to pick up an umbrella he had been carrying.

[Agammamon]

Ricin is from the castor bean plant and is commonly available from the black and red bead necklaces you sometimes seen being sold by street vendors in Europe and elsewhere. The beads cantain small amounts of Ricin and can be dangerous to children. With the large African immigrant population in Europe it's really not surprising to find minute traces of Ricin in public areas. By the way, these necklaces are not allowed to be imported into the US (amazing what you can learn in the military, traveling around the world).