REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Trump gets package containing deadly poison ricin used in terror plots, but US law enforcement intercepted it

All mail addressed to the White House is sorted and screened at an offsite facility before reaching 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Multiple tests confirmed the presence of ricin in the package
UPDATED SEP 20, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

A package full of highly-toxic poison ricin, reportedly addressed to President Donald J Trump was intercepted by law enforcement earlier this week, two law enforcement officials have confirmed. Two tests were conducted to confirm the presence of ricin in the sent package. All mail addressed to the White House is screened at an offsite facility before reaching 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, CNN reported. Speaking to the outlet, a law enforcement official said that investigators believe the ricin package sent to Trump may have come from Canada.

"We are aware of the concerning reports of packages containing ricin directed toward US federal government sites," Mary-Liz Power, the chief spokeswoman for Canada's Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair, said in a statement. "Canadian law enforcement is working closely with their US counterparts. As this is an active investigation we cannot comment further." An investigation is reportedly being led by the FBI and Secret Service.

"The FBI and our US Secret Service and US Postal Inspection Service partners are investigating a suspicious letter received at a US government mail facility. At this time, there is no known threat to public safety," the FBI's Washington field office said in a statement to the outlet.

Meanwhile, a US law enforcement official told CNN that authorities are also investigating similar packages mailed to addresses in Texas that may be linked to the same sender in Canada. It's worth noting that ricin is a highly toxic compound that is extracted from castor beans and used in powder, pellet, mist, or acid form. It's known to have been used in terror plots, and if ingested can cause "nausea, vomiting, and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen, and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system," according to CNN. CDC states that if made into a partially purified material or refined into a terrorist or warfare agent, ricin could be used to expose people through the air, food, or water. According to the CDC, there's no known antidote for ricin poisoning, and "the most important factor is avoiding ricin exposure in the first place."

In 2018, a US Navy veteran was arrested in Utah after he sent suspicious packages addressed to Trump and several military leaders. 39-year-old William Clyde Allen III was arrested after then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the Navy’s then-op officer, Admiral John Richardson reportedly received envelopes full of castor seeds. Last year, a Connecticut man was indicted after he threatened to kill the president and sent others bomb threats and mail containing a suspicious white powder. 51-year-old Gary Gravelle was indicted on 16 counts including threats against the commander-in-chief and misleading authorities with false information regarding an explosive, the Daily Mail reported.

According to the New Haven Register, Gravelle was named in the indictment as a member of the White supremacist group American Knights of Anarchy (AKA). The anarchist, per court documents, sent Trump an envelope containing suspicious white powder and a letter that read, "I, Gary Gravelle... as a faithful soldier of the AKA, am coming to KILLDonald [sic] Trump." According to the indictment, Gravelle also sent similar envelopes to a mosque, a synagogue, and a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

While the note claimed the powder sent to President Trump was a biotoxin, authorities later found it to be harmless.

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW