Poison attack exposed
A suspected terrorist poison attack has been thwarted in London, according to The Financial Times.
Authorities were alerted after Amersham Biosciences received an uncommonly large order for saponin, a very toxic chemical.
A London-based firm reportedly made the order for 500kg of the chemical.
The “Islamic community” reportedly funded the firm making the order, according to Amersham Biosciences.
Representatives approached the firm saying the order was for “a fire retardant on rice intended for human consumption.”
According to experts, saponin can be mixed ricin or other toxins to produce a deadly biological cocktail.
After the suicide bomb attacks on British targets in Turkey and the heightened sense of a terror strike during US President George W Bush’s visit, the Home Office may put the UK on “red alert.”
It was reported last night that two al-Qaeda units are being tracked down. amid fears that they are planning “spectacular” terrorist attacks in the UK.
MI5 director-general Eliza Manningham-Buller is assumed to have warned ministers of the potential for attack.
Home Secretary David Blunkett yesterday said he was ‘sick and tired’ of denials that there was no terrorist threat in the world.
Mr Blunkett said recent attacks on the British Consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul demonstrated the ‘war on terror’ was very real and necessary.
He said: “I’m frankly sick and tired of people who pretend there isn’t a threat, there aren’t terrorists and the people that we’ve locked up are not a risk to our lives.”
But Patrick Mercer, Conservative spokesman on homeland security, attacked the Government for not doing enough against the possibility of attack.
“I do wonder why the Government can’t see the value of making people alert, training people in what to look for, and therefore creating a set of intelligence nodes, if you like, that can be aware of what’s coming and may be able to help prevent this sort of activity.”
