SPECIAL EDITION!!!
BREAKING NEWS!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
An envelope that tested positive for the deadly poison ricin was intercepted Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol’s off-site mail facility in Washington, congressional and law enforcement sources tell CNN.
.
After the envelope tested positive in a first routine test, it was retested two more times, each time coming up positive, the law enforcement source said.
The envelope was addressed to a U.S. senator, though the sources would not say which one.,
.
UPDATE #1: 7:06 PM – 4/16/2013
.
Washington (CNN) — An envelope that tested positive for the deadly poison ricin was intercepted Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol’s off-site mail facility in Washington, congressional and law enforcement sources tell CNN.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was told the letter was addressed to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. After the envelope tested positive in a first routine test, it was retested two more times, each time coming up positive, the law enforcement source said. The package was then sent to a Maryland lab for further testing.
Senators were briefed on the matter Tuesday evening and told the congressional post offices would becongressional post offices.
“It was caught in the screening facility. That’s why we have an off-site screening facility for mail,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri.
Ricin is a highly toxic substance derived from castor beans. As little as 500 micrograms — an amount the size of the head of a pin — can kill an adult. There is no specific test for exposure and no antidote once exposed.
It can be produced easily and cheaply, and authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspect extremists and ricin. But experts say it is more effective on individuals than as a weapon of mass destruction.
Ricin was used in the 1978 assassination of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov. The author, who had defected nine years earlier, was jabbed by the tip of an umbrella while waiting for a bus in London and died four days later.
UPDATE #2: 7:46 pm – 4/16/13
………………
.
One senator, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, said authorities have a suspect in the fast-moving case, but she did not say if an arrest had been made. She added the letter was from an individual who frequently writes lawmakers.
The FBI and U.S. Capitol Police are both investigating.
Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, said in an emailed message to Senate offices that the envelope to Wicker had no obviously suspicious outside markings, bore a postmark of Memphis, Tenn., and lacked a return address.
UPDATE #3: 6:09 pm – 4/17/13 – White House mailed ricin envelop
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The discovery of tainted letters sent to the Capitol and the White House only added a new source of jitters to the week’s events, evoking eerie parallels to the anthrax attacks that followed the life-altering events of Sept. 11, 2001.(a)
The bombings as well as subsequent reports that someone tried to mail the deadly poison ricin to President Barack Obama – the second report of such a letter in two days – have created a climate of uncertainty in the country. Nerves were jolted further by an inaccurate report on cable news network CNN that a bombing suspect had been arrested.(b)
UPDATE #1 – Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/tainted-letter-intercepted/index.html
Read Previous Post
