More attacks like Salisbury feared
TERRORISM: The world could face more chemical attacks in the wake of the Novichok poisoning now people can learn how to make such weapons online, the Defence Secretary has warned.
Ben Wallace said access to such knowledge “can turn what might be ambitions into realities” for a whole range of attacks.
THE world could face more chemical attacks in the wake of the Novichok poisoning now people can learn how to make such weapons online, the Defence Secretary has warned.
Ben Wallace said access to such knowledge “can turn what might be ambitions into realities” for a whole range of attacks.
Speaking three years after the attempted killing of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury on March 4, 2018, he said Russia remained an “adversary” of the UK.
Mr Skripal, a former Russian spy turned double agent for MI6, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were left seriously ill after coming into contact with the deadly nerve agent.
Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after she and her partner, Charlie Rowley, fell ill in nearby Amesbury months later.
She had come into contact with a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle believed to have concealed the lethal chemical for use against the Skripals before it was discarded.
A pre-inquest review into her death is due to take place at the end of this month.
Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was also treated after coming into contact with the substance and has since left the force.
Mr Wallace said: “Dawn Sturgess lost her life as a result of this attack and potentially hundreds of people’s lives were put at
risk given the weapon that was used.”
He added: “Now you can find out how to make chemical weapons on the internet.
“That proliferation means that many people in the world have access to knowledge that can turn what might be ambitions into realities, around everything from conventional attacks to CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear] capabilities.”
His comments come as a chemical and biological weapons expert warned rogue states and terror groups could even try to use coronavirus or similar viruses for attacks in future.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said Covid-19 has shown how “a not very virulent pathogen can bring the world to its knees” and this will not go “unnoticed by bad actors”.
However, Wiltshire Police Federation chairman Mark Andrews said extra chemical and biological training introduced after the Novichok attack has equipped officers with much-needed skills to thrive in battling a health crisis.
The family of Ms Sturgess previously called on the Government for answers but there are fears they may never get justice unless two men known as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are accused of carrying out the attack, leave Russia.
The pair are still wanted by police in the UK after the Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges against them.
Counter-terrorism police officers are still appealing for witnesses and anyone with information to come forward.
Officers have maintained that they “remain as determined and committed as ever to bring those responsible for this attack to justice”.
A not very virulent pathogen can bring the world to its knees. Chemical and biological weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.