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Mississippi man held for poison-laced letters to Obama, others
Thursday April 18, 2013 10:49:22 AM,
Arun Kumar, IANS
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Related Article |
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Suspicious substance in letter for Obama:
Secret Service
A US
Secret Service spokesman Wednesday said a letter addressed to
President Barack Obama contained "suspicious substance", reported
Xinhua. The spokesman said that the authorities intercepted the
suspicious letter »
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Washington: A
Mississippi man has been arrested as a suspect in connection with
the mailing of three deadly ricin poison-laced letters to
President Barack Obama, a senator and a Mississippi official
The man was arrested Wednesday at approximately 5:15 p.m. local
time, Fox News reported citing FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel
McMullen.
Discovery of the deadly letters addressed to Obama and Republican
senator Roger Wicker Tuesday, just a day after the Boston
bombings, had rattled Washington.
The letter to Obama was intercepted at an off-site White House
mail facility and apparently was from the same sender who mailed a
"very similar" letter to Wicker, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) said Wednesday.
The Department of Justice said Wednesday the suspect was arrested
at his Corinth, Mississippi, home following an investigation
conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Memphis,
Tennessee and Jackson, Mississippi, the US Capitol Police, and the
US Postal Service, the US Secret Service.
The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old Paul Kenneth Curtis
of Tupelo, Mississippi, Fox News said citing an unnamed source.
Tupelo is also the hometown of Wicker and his wife.
Fox News citing an FBI bulletin said the letter sent to Obama and
Wicker included the phrase: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is
to become a silent partner to its continuance."
Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." The
envelopes had Tennessee postmarks, but no return address.
Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said mail sent to the White
House is screened at a remote site for the safety of the
recipients and the general public. He declined to comment on the
significance of the preliminary ricin result, referring questions
to the FBI.
Government laboratories are also testing samples of a suspicious
substance found in letters at off-site White House and Senate
mailrooms after preliminary test results pointed to the deadly
poison ricin.
Ricin is a highly toxic substance derived from castor beans. As
little as 500 micrograms-an amount the size of the head of a
pin-can kill an adult. There is no specific test for exposure and
no antidote once exposed.
The FBI said Wednesday it has no indication of a connection
between the tainted letters and Monday's bombings at the finish
line of the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded
183 others, according to latest reports.
Meanwhile, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee Carl Levin said one of his Michigan home-state offices
received a "suspicious-looking" letter and alerted authorities.
"We do not know yet if the mail presented a threat," he said.
Mail for members of Congress and the White House has been handled
at off-site postal facilities since the 2001 anthrax attacks.
(Arun Kumar can
be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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