The latest report says that the vial/container has been tested and verified as ricin.
FBI Probes Ricin Traces on Letter in S.C.
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A vial containing the deadly poison ricin was found inside an envelope at a South Carolina postal facility, federal officials said Wednesday. The FBI (news - web sites) was investigating but terrorism was not suspected. A letter inside the envelope referenced legislation in Congress involving truckers and included an extortion threat against the government, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan said the suspicious envelope was discovered last Thursday by a worker processing mail at a facility in Greenville, S.C. The letter was sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), which determined the vial contained ricin.
Tests on the envelope and the outside of the vial showed that none of the toxin had escaped, McKiernan said, adding it's not believed any workers or the public were exposed.
Officials would not say to whom the envelope was addressed, where it was postmarked or why it was singled out for inspection. The federal law enforcement official did say the letter was not addressed to a government official.
The FBI repeatedly has warned local police about the possibility that terrorists might use ricin in an attempt to poison people through ventilation systems, through drinking supplies or in food.
British police earlier this year arrested seven members of an Algerian extremist group on charges of plotting use ricin to kill a small number of people and terrify the London population. Instructions for making ricin also were found in an al-Qaida safehouse in Kabul, Afghanistan (news - web sites), according to the FBI.
Ricin has also been used in crimes in the United States that have no connection to terrorism. Last summer a Washington state man was convicted of making and possessing about 3 grams of ricin, enough to kill 900 people.