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Seventh arrest in UK ricin inquiry
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A seventh man has been arrested by anti-terrorism police investigating the discovery of the highly toxic poison, ricin, at a London address. The 33-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday and is being held at a police station in London. On Wednesday, police began searching for at least three more suspects believed to be linked to the discovery of the poison. Six Algerians are already being questioned by anti-terror police after raids on two addresses in north and east London unearthed small traces of the toxic substance, which is twice as deadly as Cobra venom, as well as ingredients and equipment for making it. All ports and airports have been put on high alert by police. Numerous references to making ricin have been found in Kabul in documents produced by the al Qaeda terrorist network. References to ricin were part of the group's training course and in a manual that was spread worldwide, but police have not said if there is any link between those arrested and al Qaeda. Iraq is also known to have included ricin in its biological weapons programme. The suspects have not been identified but are aged in their late teens, 20s and 30s. British intelligence officers and bio-chemical experts are trying to establish how much ricin could have been made at the one-bedroomed flat in Wood Green, north London, and how much could still be in the hands of terror suspects. The second address in east London has not been revealed by police for "operational reasons."
British authorities were alerted to the ricin after a tip-off from French intelligence services, CNN sources revealed. The men being questioned have been in Britain no more than three months, the intelligence sources said on Wednesday. They added that the suspects may have been connected to others involved in earlier reconnaissance missions. In addition, European intelligence sources said at least two of the six men arrested Sunday had travelled through Paris. They are believed to be linked to a group of three people arrested in Paris in December. French police said that the Paris group was made up of two Algerians and a Moroccan. Chemicals and protective clothing were found in their apartment and investigators said at least one of the suspects had been in contact with an Algerian who was suspected of planning an attack in Britain. A government minister urged the British public to be "alert but not alarmed" the day after police made the arrests and found the poison. "It's understandable that people are concerned," Home Office minister Beverley Hughes told the BBC. "But we need to keep it in perspective. People need to be alert, but not alarmed and panicked." Doctors around Britain have been warned to look for symptoms of exposure to ricin, one of the world's most powerful poisons and one for which there is no antidote. Symptoms include fever, stomach ache, diarrhoea and vomiting. "It's terrifying to think it was on our doorstep," added Ali Goren, 20, who works at a cafe next to the apartment said.
The public health director for London, Sue Atkinson, urged the public not to be alarmed. "What has been found is a very small amount of this and it's quite difficult to perhaps use it for mass destruction," she told the BBC. If inhaled, ricin can cause death within 36 to 48 hours from failure of the respiratory and circulatory systems. If ingested, it causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system. If injected, ricin immediately kills the muscles and lymph nodes near the site of the injection. Failure of the major organs and death usually follows. Medical experts point out that ricin is nowhere near as powerful a killer as anthrax. To equal one kilogramme of anthrax, four metric tons of ricin would be needed. On the other hand, anthrax can be treated, if caught early enough. One weapons expert told CNN, ricin is "a very powerful weapon but not a mass casualty weapon." Ricin was used in 1978 in an assassination in London. Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian journalist who spoke out against the Bulgarian government, was struck by a ricin-laden pellet fired from an umbrella while he walked by a bus stop on Waterloo Bridge in London. -- Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar contributed to this report Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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