U.K. white supremacists plotted to use ricin against minorities

Published 10 June 2009

White supremacist cell in the U.K. plotted to use ricin to kill black people and other ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom; ricin is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide

Los Angeles-based Universal Detection Technology, a developer of early-warning bioterrorism monitoring technologies, today provided an analysis of the plot by white supremacist groups in the United Kingdom to use ricin poison against minorities.

A white supremacist plot to wipe out black people and other ethnic minorities with deadly poison ricin was uncovered in the United Kingdom. Specialist police found traces of the substance, which is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide, in an anti-terror operation. The lethal agent, kept in a two-year-old jam jar, was found in what is feared to have been a “bomb factory,” located at the home of a white supremacist in the northern city of Durham. The substance was taken to the U.K. Ministry of Defense base at Porton Down under military escort for further tests.

Ricin is a toxin that can be made from the waste left over from processing castor beans. It is one of the most toxic and easily produced plant toxins. If injected, as little as 500 micrograms of ricin could be enough to kill an adult; some animal research indicates that similar amounts could be lethal, if inhaled. Ricin has been used in the past as a bioterrorist weapon and remains a serious threat.

Ricin has been increasingly used by terrorists and other reactionary groups with a case in Las Vegas in February of last year,” said Jacques Tizabi, UNDT’s CEO. “Our detection kits are designed to detect for the presence of ricin toxin in less than 15 minutes,” he added.