London
British police arrested six men of North African origin in connection with the possession of ricin, an extremely toxic poison. Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist branch said trace amounts of the poison, which is made from castor beans and causes severe, fatal diarrhea, were found in the men’s London apartment. Ricin is one of several biological agents that al Qaida is believed to have experimented with; it has no known antidote. The poison was found at al Qaida sites in Afghanistan as well as in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, at bases of the Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Islam. Prime Minister Tony Blair said the arrests show that the danger of terrorism “is present and real and with us now, and its potential is huge.”
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