Ricin Scare in Las Vegas: Facts and Fiction?

As the investigations into the Las Vegas Ricin poisoning continue with the Centers for Disease Control issuing a health advisory already, the mystery over two vials of poison found in the Von Bergendorff’s Motel room still haunts Police, FBI and U.S. Homeland Security agents. Police claimed to have found guns, "anarchist-type" fiction (with the ricin section highlighted), and castor beans from Bergendorff’s room, which has been under medical supervision since mid-February. Apparently, there is no indication of any link to terrorist activity or any involvement of Crime syndicates active in the locality. The seized literature and the social behaviour of Bergendorff suggest that this could be a case of ‘millenarianism’ or an individual with an ‘apocalyptic’ worldview.

However, the Ricin scare that has already gripped Las Vegas and security agencies is not a preferred terror weapon. Rather, it's an effective weapon for assassination/murder with less accidental exposure and detection.

Ricin, a potential biological toxin for crime syndicates and terrorist outfits for murder and creating fear, is a by-product (a glycoprotein) in the production of castor oil from castor beans. The large castor plant, found in most parts of Africa, India and Brazil along with other tropical and temperate climatic regions, mainly for their oil, is grown commercially for the pharmaceutical and industrial uses of oil. Its fruit is often removed before they mature because of the poison ricin concentrated in the beanlike seeds.

Although it requires a significant amount of castor beans to develop a weaponised aerosol device, its main threat is direct contact through inhalation and ingestion. The incubation and lethality depend on the mode of entry into the host. Not as lethal as Anthrax, an estimate shows that it would take 4 tons of aerosolized ricin to equal the killing power of one kilogram of Anthrax. But it is 6,000 times more potent than cyanide. While there is no known cure for a ricin victim, if penetrated through the skin, ricin can cause bleeding of the lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys, leading to multi-organ system failure followed by death in less than a week.

Regarded as the weapon of ‘targeted assassination’, ricin came to prominence of notoriety during the heights of the Cold War when suspected KGB agents killed a Bulgarian dissident journalist, Georgi Markov, by using a toxin-laced pellet fired from an umbrella tip in 1978 on London’s Waterloo Bridge. Approximately a quarter century later, ricin became a matter of concern when a Western intelligence agency broke the news that Al Qaeda, along with other terror networks, had it and an attack was in the offing.

In 2003, at least four ricin-related incidents took place. At the beginning of the year, on January 5, six Algerians believed to be a part of the ‘Chechen network’ (or Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to Al-Qaeda and Iraq) were arrested during a raid on a flat in Wood Green North London, by the British security agencies on charges of being in possession of ricin. Castor seeds and equipment to make ricin were recovered from the flat. In March, traces of ricin were found by the police in two phials inside a locker at Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris. In October 2003, a metallic container with ricin was discovered at a Greenville postal facility in South Carolina, United States. The small container had a threatening note, expressing anger against regulations overseeing the truck (transport) industry. A recent disclosure confirms that traces of ricin were also found in mail bound for the White House in November 2003. However, no one was hurt in the four cases due to the toxin.

The United States Chemical Warfare Service had started studying ricin poison as a potential weapon during World War I. During the Second World War, a ricin bomb (Code named Compound W or W-bomb) was developed by the British military at the Porton Down biological weapons establishment situated at Wiltshire in western England. In recent times, due to the fear factor involved and cost-effectiveness, the deadly toxin has found its way into the arsenals of rogue states, crime syndicates, and transnational terrorist groups. During the 1980s, ricin was allegedly used on the battlefield during the Iraq-Iran war. As per the UNSCOM’s investigation, Iraq had 155mm shells filled with ricin toxin. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Syria produced and stored between five and eighteen metric tons of castor beans annually between 1980 and 1995.

However, there was no such evidence of ricin isolation. During the war on terror, US forces claimed to have found crude ricin in the hideouts of the Al Qaeda near Kabul in November 2001. Till now, it has been tested only on livestock and patients under medical supervision but has never been used against soldiers or civilians for an offensive purpose. Nevertheless, with all fear factors intact, its easy availability and technology could lure underground outfits to launch an attack using ricin to perpetrate mass panic, if not mass destruction. The possibility is not remote.