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Secret
Service intercepts ‘suspicious’ envelope to Trump amid Pentagon
‘ricin parcels’ scare
RT,
2
October, 2018
The
US Secret Service has confirmed that a “suspicious” envelope was
sent to the White House and addressed to President Donald Trump,
following reports of two letters testing positive for ricin being
intercepted at the Pentagon.
“The
envelope was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter
the White House,” the
Secret Service said on Tuesday afternoon. They offered no further
details, adding only that they were "working
jointly with our law enforcement partners to fully investigate this
matter."
Citing
a law enforcement source, CNN reported that the letter contained a
suspicious substance believed to be ricin, the same toxin detected on
Monday in two pieces of mail sent to the Pentagon and addressed to
Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral
John Richardson. However, that report remains unconfirmed.
A law enforcement source tells @acosta that the substance in the letter addressed to Pres. Trump is suspected to be ricin and said the letters, including those to Trump and the Pentagon, appear to be connected.
The suspicious letter to Pres Trump was confirmed by @SecretService after letters to DefSec Mattis and CNO Richardson gave a preliminary positive for the poison Ricin. No word if any Ricin detected in letter addressed to @POTUS.
Earlier
on Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed that the mail was intercepted on
Monday when it tested positive for ricin. The mail facility was
quarantined and the FBI invited to investigate.
Ricin
is a highly toxic substance extracted from castor beans, and has
figured prominently as a bioweapon in a number of foiled terrorist
plots.
Parcels sent to Pentagon test positive for ricin - officials
At
least two packages sent to the Department of Defense headquarters in
Washington, DC have tested positive for ricin, a dangerous poison, US
officials said. The FBI is investigating.
The
packages were sent to someone inside the Pentagon but triggered the
alarms at the mail processing facility, DOD spokesman Chris Sherwood
told reporters on Tuesday. The suspicious shipments never made it
into the Pentagon building.
One
of the pieces of mail was addressed to Defense Secretary James
Mattis, officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The other
was reportedly addressed to Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral
John M. Richardson.
The
envelopes were detected on Monday, said Colonel Rob Manning, a
Pentagon spokesman. The Pentagon’s Force Protection Agency
responded to the incident and the FBI will conduct further tests on
the packages, officials told reporters. FBI is the lead agency on the
case.
All
mail delivered to the Pentagon on Monday has been quarantined for
inspection.
Fox News @LucasFoxNews is reporting Pentagon says at least 2 packages suspected of containing ricin delivered to the Pentagon today. The packages did not make it inside building. Spokesperson says FBI has the lead on the investigation.
Ricin
is a highly toxic substance extracted from castor beans, and has
figured prominently as a bioweapon in a number of foiled terrorist
plots.
The
most recent incident involving ricin-laced mail in Washington, DC was
in April 2013, when a Mississippi man mailed envelopes with the toxin
to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and President Barack Obama.
The
remote mail facility was set up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and
the subsequent anthrax scare, to ensure that letters and packages can
be screened for dangerous substances before they enter the Pentagon.
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