Anti-terror plan led to ricin

2003-03-21 01:54

Jon Boyle

Paris - France said on Thursday police had found traces of the deadly toxin ricin in a Paris railway station, in a search ordered as part of an anti-terrorist plan stepped up because of security concerns over the Iraq crisis.

Worries over reprisals for the war in Iraq also led the United States to warn Americans worldwide to be alert for revenge attacks involving conventional, chemical or biological weapons.

And in Germany, which along with France is opposed to the Iraq war, prosecutors said they had detained five people suspected of planning an attack on German soil to coincide with the start of US-led hostilities in the Gulf.

A French Interior Ministry spokesperson said two small flasks containing traces of ricin were discovered on Monday in a left luggage depot at the Gare de Lyon mainline railway station, which serves the south of France.

A senior police officer told Reuters a squad had visited the station as part of the "Vigipirate" anti-terrorist plan, which has been boosted because of worries about the war in Iraq.

"We have regularly been visiting left luggage depots since Vigipirate was stepped up several weeks ago," the French officer said.

Chemical analysis of the liquid contained in the flasks revealed traces of ricin - one of the world's deadliest poisons - mixed with other highly toxic substances.

In light of the Iraq crisis, the French government announced earlier on Thursday it was deploying a further 500 soldiers to join regular police and an existing deployment of 300 soldiers in surveillance at rail stations and other public areas deemed at risk.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking after the United States began military action against Iraq, earlier said France faced attack by extremists.

He told senior administrators that the threat included "a mass attack carried out using non-conventional, nuclear, radioactive, bacteriological or chemical means".

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks against US landmarks, France has feared a terror strike on its territory. Government officials said a spate of arrests of Islamic radicals in Paris suburbs last year pre-empted at least one planned attack.

Chechen Network

The ricin announcement came the same day as judicial sources said police had arrested two suspected Islamic radicals linked to a Chechen network thought to be recruiting fighters for the rebel Russian province and preparing terror attacks in France.

The men were described as of African origin, which could include Muslim North Africa.

Nine French and Algerian suspects are in detention in connection with earlier raids against this "Chechen network", which is suspected of recruiting fighters and preparing possible chemical attacks against Russian interests in France.

Ricin hit the headlines in January, when British anti- terrorist police arrested several people in connection with the alleged discovery of ricin in a north London flat.

Scotland Yard directed all inquiries about a possible link with the British discovery to the French authorities.

The French Interior Ministry said only that further tests were being carried out to determine the origin of the substances and that an official investigation was under way.

Ricin, one of the deadliest naturally occurring poisons, is derived from castor plant beans, which are grown worldwide to produce castor oil.

The chemical, which is many times more deadly than cyanide, is considered a likely bio-warfare agent and is on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "B" list of agents - considered a moderate threat.

- Reuters