NOVICHOK CAN LAST 50 YRS IN SEALED CONTAINER, SAYS UK

London, July 11: Britain’s top counterterrorism police officer Neil Basu says the nerve agent Novichok could remain active for 50 years if kept in a sealed container.

Assistant police commissioner Basu told residents of Amesbury on Tuesday night that police is searching for the container that held the nerve agent believed to have poisoned two people on June 30.

“I would love to be able to say that we have identified and caught the people responsible and how we are certain there are no traces of nerve agent left anywhere in Wiltshire,” he said.

“But the brutal reality is that I cannot offer you any reassurance or guarantee at this time.” One victim, Dawn Sturgess, has died.

ASSISTANT POLICE commissioner Basu told people he could not offer any reassurance at this time