UK anti-terrorism unit investigates incident near Skripal poisoning site
Two people were in critical condition in a Salisbury hospital after being exposed to an “unknown substance”, just kilometres from where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned, British police said yesterday.
UK counter-terrorism police are now involved in the investigation with media reporting that samples had been sent to Porton Down, Britain’s military research centre, which identified the agent used in the Skripal poisoning as Novichok.
A man and woman in their 40s “are currently receiving treatment for suspected exposure to an unknown substance at Salisbury District Hospital”, Wiltshire police said. “They are both in a critical condition.”
The police said it considered the situation a “major incident”, but Angus Macpherson, Wiltshire’s police and crime commissioner, said there was no reason to believe it was connected with the Skripal attack.
“I haven’t seen anything in this incident yet that I would consider to be an overreaction in terms of previous incidents, it all seems fairly textbook,” he said in comments reported by the BBC.
The hospital also reported that it was working as usual.
“Emergency services were called to an address in Muggleton Road, Amesbury, on Saturday evening after a man and woman, both in their 40s, were found unconscious in a property,” police said.
“They are currently receiving treatment for suspected exposure to an unknown substance at Salisbury District Hospital. They are both in a critical condition.”
Officers said it was initially believed the couple fell ill after using possibly heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch of drugs, but further “testing is now ongoing to establish the substance that led to these patients becoming ill”.
“At this stage it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed. A police investigation has been established. In addition, a full multi-agency response has been co-ordinated.”
There were also reports that security services had identified two suspects in the Skripal case. Quoting sources from the Metropolitan Police, The
Sun newspaper said the two unnamed individuals left the UK 24 hours after the poisoning and were now in Russian territory.
The claims were quickly rebutted by the Russian embassy in the UK, which said the article was based on “vague sources”.