Police smash white supremacist terror plot to poison ethnic minorities with ricin

from The Daily Mail h/t LGF

Police smash white supremacist terror plot to poison ethnic minorities with ricin
By Paul Sims
Last updated at 9:29 AM on 06th June 2009

Police have smashed a global terror plot by white supremacists aimed at poisoning ethnic minorities with the deadly poison ricin.

They discovered the lethal toxin in a sealed jam jar after a six month investigation ended with dawn raids on two properties in County Durham.

Two men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and were yesterday being quizzed by officers over their involvement in a worldwide plot.

It is feared they planned to use it as part of a biological weapon against ethnic minorities in the UK.

Officers discovered traces of ricin in a kitchen cupboard of a terraced home in the former mining village of Burnopfield and believe it may have been stored there for up to two years.

The two men held by officers – former lorry driver Ian Davidson, 41 and his 18 year old son Nicky – are being held at a secure location in West Yorkshire.

Since the former pub DJ's arrest forensic officers have been examining Davidson's property.

Nicky was held on suspicion of inciting racial hatred following a swoop at his home in Grampian Court, Annfield Plain. However, he has since been re-arrested and is also now detained under the Terrorism Act in West Yorkshire.

Durham’s assistant chief constable Mike Barton said: ‘This shows that the terrorist threat in the UK is real and present.

He said he expected further arrests to be made as inquiries spread across Britain - and abroad.

‘The tentacles of this are worldwide,’ he said.

'We believe the people involved to be white supremacist extremists and one of our lines of inquiry was that they were going to target people from ethnic minorities.

'White supremacists seem to hate an awful lot of people.’

He added: ‘This will spawn an awful lot of intelligence which will then kick start other criminal counter terrorism inquiries elsewhere.’

The two properties raided were searched as part of long running counter terrorism operations involving MI5 and other agencies.

They had been monitoring access to internet websites containing information which is ‘unhelpful to public safety’. Mr Barton said the discovery of ricin came as a complete surprise.

'We did plan for such an eventuality as this, although we didn't expect it,’ he admitted.

The fatal agent, for which there is no antidote, is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide and an amount the size of a grain of salt is enough to kill an adult.

The presence of the toxic - which is extracted from castor oil beans - was confirmed by a government laboratory in Edinburgh.

The home of the two men was still cealed off last night. Forensic officers wearing protective clothing are expected to be there for at least another week.

The jam jar will now be transferred under police escort to the Ministry of Defence establishment at Porton Down, where scientists will establish its strength.

Ricin can cause major organ failure and fatal collapse of the immune system if eaten or breathed in, although it is said to be difficult to manufacture it to 'weapons grade'.

In 2005, Algerian Kamel Bourgass was jailed for 17 years at the Old Bailey for plotting a ricin attack in the UK, although none of the poison was found.

The last recorded death from the toxic was in London in 1978, when dissident Georgi Markov was shot in the leg with a poisoned pellet by Bulgarian agents.

Specialist anti-terror police were continuing to question the two arrested men.