Eye Spy - May 2018

42 EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018

An impactful mural to the 5,000 Kurds killed in Halabja, northern Iraq,

chemical attack in 1988. The operation was green-lighted by Saddam

Hussein and remains the worst single WMD attack in history

RICIN

P

opular amongst the terrorist and

criminal fraternity because this is

one poison that can be manufac-

tured with relative ease by

experienced operatives. A few grains of the

naturally occurring carbohydrate-binding

protein can kill if ingested, inhaled or injected.

Organs will fail as will the central nervous

system. The poison can be extracted from

seeds of the castor oil plant. In 2006, MI5 and

MI6 probed a number

of al-Qaida terrorists

in north London who

engaged in the

production of ricin at

a safe house in

London.

Ricin was used in the

infamous London

‘umbrella assassination’ of Bulgarian dissident

Georgi Markov (above) in 1978. Here a KGB

assassin jabbed Markov with a specially

adapted umbrella. He died 72-hours later.

Another KGB ricin attack occurred just three

years later. In this case, KGB double agent

Boris Korzak, operating for the CIA, was

struck by a ricin pellet fired from an air gun in

Vienna, Virginia. He survived the attack.

Castor seeds. Inset: Castor oil plant

AQ - ricin production

house (centre top)

BOTULINUM

A US specialist testing for chemical

and poisons

product of Clostridium Botulinum

• described as an anaerobic,
  spore-forming motile bacterium
  Athat can produce the neuro-toxin
  botulinum. One usually associates the product
  with the cosmetic industry (Botox) and
  ‘bulging tins’, in this case caused by bacteria.

However, if delivered (absorbed, inhaled) in

incorrect quantities, it can result in various

disorders associated with poisoning, including

paralysis. Rumours abound that the CIA

planned assassinating Cuban leader Fidel

Castro with a Botox-contaminated cigar.

Saddam Hussein also recognised its potential

as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD),

building a covert plant to manufacture

The CIA allegedly created a plot to

contaminate Fidel Castro’s cigars

Botulinum as well as Anthrax and Aflatoxin.

The facility was just one of a number overseen

by intelligence man Ali Hassan al-Majid,

known to his adversaries as ‘Chemical Ali’. He

was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court for

his involvement in a plethora of incidents

involving WMD and toxin attacks. Al-Majid

was executed in January 2010.

Ali Hassan al-Majid. Inset:

Clostridium Botulinum bacteria