Police question terror suspects as poison seized

London - Six terror suspects were being questioned by detectives tonight after the discovery of traces of the deadly poison ricin in a London flat, Scotland Yard revealed today. The six men, in their late teens, 20s and 30s, are of north African origin and were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning following an operation in north and east London by the anti-terrorist branch.

Public health workers throughout the NHS have been alerted to be on the lookout for symptoms of ricin exposure in patients.

Ricin, which is extracted from the seeds of the castor bean plant Ricinus communis, is widely available, easy to produce, and a tiny amount can be enough to kill an adult.

Police said "equipment and materials" were found at a one bedroom flat in Wood Green, north-east London, where one of the men was arrested. A woman who was also arrested has been released.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said: "The worry is obviously that there are others in possession of this material who might have the means and the motives to deploy it."

The prime minister, Tony Blair, addressing British diplomats at a conference in London, said the operation highlighted how "present and real" the danger posed by terrorists is. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, called the arrests "chilling revelations".

Mr Blair's official spokesman said he believed there was no "specific intelligence about how this small quantity ... was to have been used".

In November last year, the Sunday Times reported that police had foiled an attack on London Underground which involved releasing cyanide gas in a crowded carriage. The report was not confirmed by Scotland Yard. Today, Downing Street said: "We have no specific intelligence of any direct threat, including to the Tube."

But the threat of a possible terrorist attack on the UK has cast a worrying shadow over the nation in recent months.

Ricin can be made into a powder, but the most lethal means of administering the toxin would be directly into the bloodstream.

There is no antidote but it is not universally fatal and those who come into contact can recover. However the poison can deadly if ingested, inhaled or - most dangerously - injected. A small dose produces 'flu-like symptoms and death can follow in a few days.

If the substance was inhaled it could lead to serious lung damage. It could take 24 hours before people began to show symptoms and could be several days before the most serious problems develop.

A Scotland Yard statement said advice would be available to the public through NHS Direct. Police also urged the public to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to police, although it emphasised that its message was "alert not alarm".

Ricin was notoriously used in the assassination of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in 1978 where it is believed he was injected it via a KGB customised umbrella.

However, ricin is not thought to be ideal for a mass attack and would be better employed in a targeted strike on an individual or small group of people.

Plans by al-Qaida to produce ricin were discovered in a house in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. The shadow defence secretary, Bernard Jenkin, said: "We are of course aware that Iraq has the capacity to produce ricin, and so the origin of this ricin is also hugely important."

Scotland Yard said: "We are also encouraging the public to call the free confidential anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321 if they have any information about people or activities that could be linked to terrorism." -- Guardian News

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