Intelligence officials have warned Barack B.O.Obama that a dangerous regional arm of Al Qaeda is trying to produce the deadly poison ricin to use in attacks against the United States.
Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen is believed to have been trying to acquire large quantities of castor beans, which contain the toxic rich protein. It is thought the poison would be packed around small explosives which could disperse the white powdery substance on detonation.
| How effective would this be in bomb form? I remember a discussion here about chlorine bombs in Iraq, where the conclusion was that the explosion would be expected to burn off most of the chlorine gas, rather than being available to harm bystanders... |
| Which is why the Bulgarian secret service delivers it via umbrella... |
Mr Obama was briefed by top security aides about the latest threat last year but was told by that an attack is not imminent. Senior administration officials said ricin was among the threats being tracked by a secret government task force
| Sh! It's a secret. |
The poison was used in the 1978 liquidation in London of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov and, in 2002, police raided a facility said to be plotting its manufacture in the UK capital.