UK police believe they know poison suspects
Police have identified ‘‘several Russians’’ as suspects in the nerve agent attempted murder of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in March, according to a media report in the UK.
Police identified the suspects through CCTV footage.
‘‘Investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators of the Novichok attack through CCTV and have cross-checked this with records of people who entered the country around that time,’’ a source with knowledge of the investigation told Press Association.
‘‘They [the investigators] are sure they [the suspects] are Russian.’’
The British government has already blamed Russia for the attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March, citing intelligence sources as well as the independently verified identity of the poison: weapons grade nerve agent Novichok at a very high level of purity.
However this is the first time there has been a publicly revealed clue as to who wielded the poison.
The news came as an inquest was due to open into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who lived near Salisbury and appeared to have come into contact with Novichok from the same batch used against the Skripals.
Experts estimated Sturgess had been exposed to a dose ten times the amount that the Skripals had come into contact with, possibly after picking up a discarded perfume bottle in a park near Salisbury and spraying it onto her skin. The bottle containing Novichok was found in Rowley’s home in Amesbury.
Sturgess’ partner Charlie Rowley was also left fighting for his life.
The inquest is expected to be adjourned to allow police to continue their investigations.
Police are still searching homes, a park and other locations in and around Salisbury, and have removed 400 items for examination.
Waste and litter will be cleared from public areas as a precaution. Locals have been reassured the risk is low but were also strongly advised not to pick up ‘‘strange items’’ such as syringes, cosmetics, or other materials made of metal, plastic or glass.
International chemical weapons experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – the UN watchdog set up to monitor their use – have collected samples from the Sturgess investigation in order to independently verify the British findings.
The samples will be sent to two OPCW laboratories and once the results of the analysis are received, a report will be submitted to the UK.
The OPCW has already confirmed Novichok as behind the attack on the Skripals.
Since then the OPCW has decided that – on request – it has the power not just to identify chemical weapons use, but when possible to identify the culprits.
Last week counter-terrorism detectives revealed they had found a small bottle containing Novichok at Rowley’s home in Amesbury.
‘‘They [the investigators] are sure they [the suspects] are Russian.’’ Skripal investigation source