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| Terror Networks |
| Bases the target in Ricin Plot theory |
| 2003-01-25 |
| Islamic militants arrested in Britain this month might have been plotting to lace the food supply at a British military base with ricin, according to United States Government officials. I guess that is a way to use Ricin that hasn't been mentioned before, and it might even be worse than normal army food The officials said they had received intelligence reports showing that British authorities suspected men arrested in a series of raids might have been trying to gain access to the food supply on at least one military base in Britain. British officials found traces of the poison, ricin, in a London flat where the first arrests were made in the case. It's not the first time the Islamo-Fascists have tried a mass poisoning "It's a very live theory," said a US law enforcement official familiar with the information from the British. US officials said the reports showed that one of the suspects worked for a food preparation company and had been in contact with people who worked on at least one British military base. They said they did not know the identity of the suspect or which British base - or bases - might have been a target. Officials cautioned that the assessment was a working theory among British investigators and that conclusive evidence had not yet been obtained. "There are some investigators who believe the ricin was being developed to poison British troops," an American official said. "But we still have found no direct evidence between the ricin discovery and that kind of plot." A spokesman for the British Home Office declined to comment on the reports. Pentagon officials said they had fears about the potential for terrorists to attack the food and water supplies at US bases. They said they had been taking precautions to protect American troops being sent on missions overseas. Few details of the British investigation have been made public but the possibility that the plotters were planning to poison British troops helps to explain why British authorities have been moving so aggressively on the case in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said the most recent arrests at the north London mosque demonstrated that the level of terrorist activity had increased in recent months. In November he said there was a dramatic increase in intelligence reports indicating that terrorists were plotting a spectacular attack. However, by Thursday police had freed one of the seven men arrested in the mosque raid and had decided not to press terrorism charges against another two. Better luck next time |
| Posted by:Paul |