Supplier alerts authorities after 'company' orders large quantity of toxic substance
Posted: November 22, 2003
7:10 p.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
A terror attack in Britain has been foiled after a ''company'' financed by ''the Islamic community'' tried to buy a large quantity of toxic chemicals, with the apparent intention of killing thousands.
The plot came to light when a supplier became suspicious of the group's half-ton order of saponin, a product sometimes used in labs to enhance the transmissions of molecules through biological cell membranes, according to the Financial Times.
Saponins, which can be toxic in high doses, are a family of natural detergents derived from plants with a variety of uses in industry and medicine. Digitalis, which is used to treat heart disease, is a saponin derived from the foxglove plant, reports the Sunday Tasmanian.
Experts believe the would-be purchasers may have thought they could mix it with ricin or other toxins and cause widespread poisoning by smearing the mixture on surfaces in public places, according to the Times.
But Jonathan Tucker, a Washington-based senior researcher at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute, was quoted in the article as voicing doubts the plot could have succeeded.
''Even with a carrier of some kind, I doubt it would be possible for ricin to be absorbed through the skin because it is a large-protein molecule,'' he was quoted as saying.
The attempt to purchase the chemical was made in the autumn of 2002 to Amersham Biosciences, a subsidiary of Amersham International, by what claimed to be an organization with a London post office-box address, reports the paper.
Further research by the supplier showed the so-called company placing the order was funded by "the Islamic community", a spokesman told the paper.
The quantity of the order was so large - 500 to 1,000 times the normal order from a university laboratory - that it raised a ''red flag'' with Amersham employees, encouraging them to make further inquiries.
The explanation for the planned use of the product was also suspicious. The group described its intended use as ''a fire retardant on rice intended for human consumption.''
After the order was refused, the company alerted authorities.
Early this year, several men were arrested and accused of plotting to produce
a chemical weapon after police discovered traces of ricin in a north London
apartment.
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