Brits fear nerve agent still lying around

LONDON — The nerve agent Novichok could remain active for 50 years if kept in a sealed container, Britain’s top counterterrorism police officer said Wednesday, adding that he cannot yet “guarantee” there are no traces of the lethal poison in southwestern England.

Neil Basu, an assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan Police, told residents of Amesbury on Tuesday night that police are searching for the container that held the nerve agent believed to have poisoned two people on June 30.

He said there is so far no definitive forensic proof that the Novichok that poisoned 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and 45-year-old Charlie Rowley was from the same batch used in March against ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Basu said this can only be proved by scientists conducting detailed analysis but that any other explanation is extremely unlikely.

The nerve agent was produced in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Britain has accused the Russia of the attack on the Skripals, an allegation denied by the Kremlin.

Sturgess died Sunday; officials say Rowley has shown slight but significant improvement and is now conscious.