Enough ricin to kill 1400 people
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| Toy Lamborghini loaded with ricin |
He just wanted to get some ricin, you know, to have it around. Don’t you have some in the cookie jar? He just “wanted to know what the fuss was about.” Isn’t that completely plausible? Didn’t you buy some bubonic plague-carrying rats last year, just to see “what the fuss was about”? Let this poor Man of Peace off!
“Shocking pictures show how computer whizz hid ‘deadly ricin’ capable of killing 1,400 inside toy Lamborghini supercar,” by Richard Wheatstone, Mirror, July 29, 2015 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):
Mohammed Ali, 31, attempted to purchase the chemical weapon over the ‘dark web’ from his home in Liverpool.
But the software programmer didn’t realise that his supplier was an FBI agent who tipped off police in the UK and sent him harmless powder.
Under the username Weirdos 0000, Ali struck a deal with a supplier on the internet black market to buy 500mg of powder for £320 – enough to kill 1,400 people.
The dad-of-two took delivery of the powder stashed inside five vials hidden inside a battery compartment. Police then swooped on his home and arrested him under anti-terror laws.
Ultraviolet light revealed Ali had handled the package which had been laced with a marker substance.
Ali held his head in his hands as he was found guilty of attempting to have a chemical weapon in his possession at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.
He will be sentenced in September and faces a lengthy spell behind bars. Or does he?
The court heard Ali approached the undercover agent in January with a private message: “Hi, would you be able to make me some ricin and send it to the UK?”
In a series of encrypted chats they discussed the price of a lethal dose, discounts for bulk orders and repeat purchases, and ricin’s “shelf life”, jurors were told.
In his defence, Ali told jurors that he was just “curious” and wanted to test the boundaries of the Dark Web unaware that ricin was illegal.
If he was unaware that ricin was illegal, why was he trying to purchase it on the Darknet, why not the regular net?
He told the jury: “I was interested in the Dark Net and ricin. I just wanted to know what the fuss was about.[“]
OK, he knew there was a 'fuss' about ricin, but didn't know it was illegal. How logical is that?
But prosecutor Sally Howes QC said Ali was a “chancer” who lied to police about having ricin when he was arrested in the hope that he would “get away with it”.
And everything about his conduct pointed to a man who carefully and meticulously researched and carried out a plan to buy ricin.
Ms Howes told the jury that ricin was the “perfect poison” because it killed without leaving a trace in the body. Ali had ordered enough to kill up to 1,400 people, although his potential targets were not known.
Justice Saunders said: “There is no evidence that he was planning any sort of terrorist attack.
“There is also no evidence that he had in mind any specific victims for ricin. I do not accept he was going to dispose of it.
“I’m satisfied it would have remained in his possession in some way and that is the basis on which I propose to sentence.”…
Justice Saunders give your head a shake! What was he going to do with the ricin, study it? He's a computer geek, not a chemist. Why would you want something so extremely deadly around your house when you have two kids? Just for fun? I sure hope you wake up before sentencing this man.
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