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BRITAIN-RUSSIA-POISON LEAD
UK police identify Novichok suspects as Russians: report
LONDON, July 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – British police believe that they have
identified the suspects who carried out the Novichok nerve agent attack on a
former Moscow double agent and his daughter and that they are Russian, the
Press Association reported Thursday.
“Investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators of
the Novichok attack through CCTV and have cross-checked this with records of
people who entered the country around that time,” a source with knowledge of
the investigation told PA, the British domestic news agency.
“They (investigators) are sure they (suspects) are Russian,” the source
added.
Scotland Yard police headquarters refused to comment on the report when
contacted by AFP.
Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed in the
southwestern English city of Salisbury on March 4 after being exposed to the
nerve agent Novichok. Both have since recovered.
Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning of Skripal, a former military
intelligence colonel who was jailed for betraying Russian agents to Britain’s
MI6 foreign intelligence service.
He left Russia for England in a 2010 spy swap.
Russia has strongly denied involvement in the Skripal attack, sparking a
diplomatic row that has led to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between
Britain and its allies and Moscow.
– Murder probe –
Two Britons fell ill in June after being exposed to Novichok. Experts are
seeking to establish whether the toxin was from the same batch used against
the Skripals.
Charlie Rowley, 45, and his 44-year-old partner Dawn Sturgess, collapsed at
his house in Amesbury, a town close to Salisbury, within hours of each other
on June 30.
Sturgess died on July 8, while Rowley has regained consciousness and is in
stable condition. The Sturgess death is being investigated as murder.
PA said investigators believe Sturgess was exposed to at least 10 times the
amount of nerve agent as the Skripals came into contact with.
Police have said it was detected in a “small bottle” at Rowley’s house.
Rowley’s brother Matthew told the BBC that the 45-year-old had told him the
Novichok was contained in a perfume bottle.
Investigators are working to the theory that Sturgess sprayed Novichok
straight onto her skin, the PA source said.
– Analysing samples –
An inquest into the death of Sturgess was to open on Thursday at Wiltshire
and Swindon Coroner’s Court in Salisbury.
In English law, inquests are held to examine violent, unnatural or
unexplained deaths. They set out to determine the place and time of death as
well as how the deceased came by their death, but do not apportion blame.
The inquest will be formally opened but then adjourned to a later date.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said its
inspectors had collected samples in the Amesbury case and returned to the
organisation’s headquarters in The Hague on Wednesday to begin analysing
them.
The OPCW said in a statement that it had received a request from Britain on
Friday to provide technical assistance.
They deployed a team to “independently determine the nature of the
substance” alleged to have resulted in the death of Sturgess and the
poisoning of Rowley.
“The OPCW team collected samples. The samples will be sent to two OPCW
designated laboratories and once the results of the analysis are received,
the report will be submitted to the United Kingdom,” it said.
Police have recovered more than 400 exhibits, samples and items as part of
the investigation into the death of Sturgess.
“Searches are still expected to continue for several weeks, if not months,”
Scotland Yard has said.
– Fingertip search –
On Wednesday, police started a search of the Queen Elizabeth Gardens in
Salisbury. Certain parts were to be searched by fingertip. The search is due
to last several days.
The “detailed and meticulous search” is a “significant step in the
operation”, said Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills.
The New York Times newspaper reported Sunday that British investigators
believe the attack on the Skripals was most likely conducted by current or
former agents of the Russian military intelligence agency.
The service, known as the GRU, is the same one accused of interfering with
the 2016 US presidential election. Twelve GRU officers were charged Friday
with hacking Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The report cited a British official, a US official and a former US official
familiar with the inquiry.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1548 hrs