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| Oh, crap. So to speak. |
| 2002-06-19 |
| A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly building a homemade biological weapon with a lethal toxin from the castor plant, the FBI said. FBI agent Norm Brown said there was no known connection between the man, Kenneth Olsen, and terrorists. "In our opinion, the public has nothing to fear from this incident," Brown said. They said something like that about anthrax when it first appeared... Olsen, 47, was allegedly making ricin, a deadly extract of castor beans. Traces of ricin have been found by U.S. troops in Afghanistan at suspected Al Qaeda biological weapons sites. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office began investigating Olsen last August and the FBI later became involved, Brown said. There was no sign of a bomb in the man's house and the FBI said it would not comment on any alleged motive. Ricin is twice as deadly as cobra venom. In very small doses, it causes the human digestive tract to convulse -- hence the laxative effect of castor oil. But in larger doses, ricin causes diarrhea so severe that victims can die of shock from massive fluid and electrolyte loss. Maybe brewing up a batch of deadly but obscure poison to bump off the little woman and collect the life insurance. Maybe just a nut and not even homicidal. Or maybe something else. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |