British terror suspects 'planned toxic bomb'
George Wright and agencies
Tuesday April 6, 2004
Scotland Yard today refused to confirm or deny reports that anti-terror police had foiled a poison gas attack in Britain.
According to ABC News in the US, British security services believe the terror suspects arrested last week in raids in London and the south-east were planning to make a bomb that would release a highly toxic chemical called osmium tetroxide.
Police moved to arrest the men after electronic intercepts at the GCHQ listening centre revealed the deadly compound was to be used in a possible attack, according to unnamed sources cited by ABC yesterday.
The poison bomb plot is thought to have been foiled before the suspects managed to obtain the chemical, said a BBC report today. It also suggested the plotters were sympathetic to the aims of the al-Qaida network and were planning to bomb a civilian target.
However, a spokeswoman said Scotland Yard was "not prepared to discuss" the claims, citing "security reasons".
Osmium tetroxide has a pungent smell and comes from the Greek word for "stench". It is used in research laboratories as a staining agent in electron microscopy.
ABC quoted US experts who suggested that if it was "piggy-backed" on conventional explosives and released in a bomb blast, its vapours would cause victims to choke to death.
However, Alistair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University, told the BBC that osmium tetroxide was "mildly irritant" and was unlikely to be used in a "dirty bomb".
He said: "It isn't like any traditional chemical warfare agent. It's not something which would create a major vapour hazard - it isn't like mustard gas or chlorine or some of the nerve agents."
Meanwhile, police said they had been given more time today to question nine men arrested in south-east England in last week's raids.
Extensions of the custody period were granted last night for eight of the men until Thursday evening. Officers were also granted an extension for the ninth suspect until this evening.
More than 700 police officers were involved in Tuesday's arrests, which came as half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertiliser was seized from a west London self-storage unit. The material was capable of creating a bomb similar to the one used in the 2002 terror attack on Bali, police claim.
There was no mention of a potential chemical attack after last week's raids, although Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, warned last month that it was "inevitable" that "some sort of attack" would be launched against London by terrorists.