Posted on 01/08/2003 10:27:29 AM PST by UKCajun
Terrorists posed as asylum seekers to get a London flat which they turned into a poison factory, it has emerged.
Two 17-year-old youths claiming their right to be housed by the local council were given the flat above a chemist's shop in Wood Green. Then it is believed a gang moved in to make a batch of the poison ricin with the intention of spreading terror in the capital.
Three members of the gang are being hunted in the biggest police operation of its kind following a raid on the flat, where traces of the poison were found. Seven North African men have been arrested. Security was stepped up today around London Underground, the Prime Minister and other public figures, amid fears of a terrorist outrage. The flat at the centre of the investigation was being examined "piece by piece" by forensic experts in protective clothing today.
Two youths have been living in the flat under the care of Islington council. One is an Ethiopian and the other is an Algerian. The Algerian's case remains unresolved twoanda-half years after he claimed asylum.
The pair were moved into the flat within days of the attacks on New York and Washington. Islington council said: "Two of the people arrested by the anti-terrorist branch in Wood Green have been placed in this accommodation under our obligation to provide support to destitute asylum-seekers.
"The people in question are young people over 16 but under 18 and we can't make any further comment about them. We will assist police in their inquiries as far as we are able."
Islington gained responsibility for the teenagers because, as unaccompanied minors, they must be cared for by local social services rather than the Government's National Asylum Support Service.
The seven men arrested are being questioned by anti-terrorist police following the raid on the flat. Details of the flat emerged tonight as:
* Hundreds of officers were ordered to find the remaining members of the gang.
* Scotland Yard said there were a total of five raids which led to the arrests.
* Detectives revealed they fear the gang could have been trying to make the poison into a cream which could have been smeared onto a door handle to poison anyone touching it.
The gang is believed to have arrived in recent months in Britain on forged papers.
Detectives are now investigating possible links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. Police believe they uncovered a "kitchen sink" laboratory being used to manufacture ricin when they stormed the flat on Sunday.
The raids on the Wood Green address, another in east London and three more addresses which police have not revealed, were mounted by anti-terrorist squad officers and MI5 after a tip-off about the gang's activities.
Home Secretary David Blunkett, police and security services now face a series of questions. These include the crucial one: where is the missing cache of poison detectives fear was made in the flat?
Anti-terrorist officers found traces of the chemical agent but fear most of the batch is now in the hands of terrorists and could be be deployed by them. Police found equipment and containers used to make the poison which can be stored in a small flask and also discovered a tub of cream.
Specialists in chemical warfare do not believe there was enough ricin to carry out a mass attack on civilians. A more likely theory is that it could be used in an assasination or to spread a climate of terror in London like the anthrax attacks in New York and Washington in October 2001.
The gang found an ideal home in the one-bedroom flat when they moved in more than a month ago.
It is leased to Islington council by its owners, brothers Premchaud Kantilal Shah, 65, and Pravin Shah, 53. Mr Shah of Kenton, Middlesex, said: "This is very worrying but I simply know nothing about it.
"The property is in the hands of an agent and he deals with the people staying there, we have nothing to do with them. I hardly ever go to the flat. I have spoken to to the agent today and he says he knows nothing about the people who were staying there although he is the one who is supposed to know. They are not my responsibility at all. The agent is supposed to find tenants for me." At least four different people are understood to have lived in the property before the current occupants moved in.
The area is perfect for a terrorist gang to melt into with a rapid turnover of people in bedsits and a rich ethnic mix. The group kept a low profile, although police were no strangers to a flat below where a group of Albanians and Romanians live, making repeated visits to deal with motoring offences.
Newsagent Mukesh Shah said: "It is terrifying that something like this could be happening right under your nose and you know nothing about it."
The group are all in their late teens, twenties or thirties.
Ismail Ucur, who runs the nearby Ucur Supermarket, said four were seen coming and going from the flat at all hours. "One was definitely Somalian, aged about 21 to 22 and he spoke the best English," he said.
All six men in custody are being held at the high-security Paddington Green police station. One is thought to have been a science teacher.
Ricin can be administered by injection, ingestion, inhalation or simply by physical contact. The early symptoms are similar to flu. There is no antidote.
Doctors and hospitals are on stand-by to deal with victims. However, ricin is particularly difficult to detect. The chemical can kill within hours but the symptoms are not immediate and only develop some hours after it is ingested.
One security source said: "We found a range of equipment and scientific equipment in the flat.
"We do not believe they had the equipment for a production line for large quantities of the poison but the trouble is we do not know exactly how much was made or what their intentions were.
"The police operation being carried out now is intensive to say the least. We do not want to spread alarm but people must be vigilant and alert to their surroundings."
1 gram is sufficient to kill 36,000 people. This could cause a collapse of the London (UK) economy if it is spread randomly as a cream. Same effect that the sniper attack had in Washington and surrounds. Difficult to protect against.
Time to loose the dogs of war!
First thought: Unless ironclad evidence to the contrary eventually turns up, I continue to believe the anthrax attacks were perpetrated by the same gang that pulled off the 9/11 attacks. Of course, if this is correct, it means some of that gang are still alive and loose.
Second thought: It's only a matter of time until one of these chem or bio attacks succeeds in a massive way.
Third thought: what's it going to take to wake the Euro dopes up? For that matter, what's it going to take to keep the American public (and our home-grown Leftist kooks) awake to this nightmarish threat?
When the Eiffel Tower comes falling down, or the Louvre is destroyed, or the Vatican burns, maybe then they will "wake up" and recognise this is an attack on western civilisation, democracy, and life.
I remember a class on personal hygiene in the field that a very animated Sergeant gave while I was in the Army. He was speaking about the need to wash your hands regularly- even while in a field environment. "Joe is nasty. Joe is bored. Joe is digging in the ground. Joe is digging in his nose, digging in his ears, digging in his butt--- Joe's just digging, digging, digging. He takes them same grubby fingers and digs in his eyes plays with his teeth and shakes your hand..."
The point there being- people stick their fingers in their mouths, eyes, noses and yes, even their nether orifices, regularly, without thinking about it, habitually.
The cream mightn't necessarily need to be a big gob of white stuff smeared on. A very thin layer might be all that's needed. Of course it might dry after a little while, just like sun tan lotion. But would the poison still be effective? Imagine our darling Muslim brothers late at night, lubing up the stairwells, door handles, parking ticket machines (and other ticket vendors), soft drink machines, car door handles, PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT! The list goes on and on. By morning, I imagine the stuff would have dried. You might never know you touched it. Later, you're sitting in front of your computer picking your teeth and now you've got a little bit in your mouth. How much of this stuff do you need to stick in your mouth to get sick? How much do you need to stick in your mouth to die?
Just a couple cases would cause a great deal of alarm. A dozen or so would cause a general panic, I'm certain. A few score might produce the reverse spin effect on the Islamists- those football hooligans that are a shameful part of English culture might actually hit the streets with throngs of enraged volunteers and start cracking skulls...
It's something to think about.
The plant, however, can be readily grown in a number of places. I've grown it in central Indiana as an annual several years. It's a splendid tropical-appearing plant - can grow 12-15 feet in a growing season. The seed is/was readily available through various seed compannies [I frequently got mine through Henry Field ] and farm supply stores.
[If planted around the foundation of your house it will deter moles.]
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