Trump sent package of deadly ricin
A PACKAGE containing the deadly poison ricin and addressed to President Trump has been intercepted at the White House.
The package containing the hi ghly t oxic s ubstance – derived from castor beans – was seized at a mail collection facility at the White House.
The FBI and Secret Service have confirmed t hey are investigating the incident, which was revealed yesterday but happened earlier l ast week. In a statement, the FBI said agents were working to investigate ‘a suspicious letter received at a US government mail facility’ and that there was ‘no known threat to public safety’. Some reports claimed the ricin-filled envelope originated in Canada.
Even a few grains of ricin can prove fatal if inhaled. If ingested, it causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding followed by failure of the l i ver, spleen and kidneys which leads to death. There is no known antidote.
In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was poisoned on London’s Waterloo Bridge when an unknown assailant stabbed him in the leg with an umbrella which shot a ricinlaced pellet into his skin. He died three days later.
After the 9/11 attacks, US counter- terrorism experts warned that the terrorist group Al Qaeda might try to launch an attack on the West using ricin.
In 2014, actress Shannon Richardson, who appeared on the TV show The Walking Dead, was convicted of sending ricin-filled envelopes to President Barack Obama and New York’ s mayor Michael Bloomberg.
She was sentenced to 18 years in prison.