Suspect Arrested for White House Poison Note

A woman has been arrested who reportedly sent a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to the White House. CNN reports that the woman was arrested trying to enter the United States from Canada.

 

She was carrying a gun, according to security authorities. The New York Times previously reported that the sender should be found in Canada.

The FBI said Saturday it was investigating a suspicious letter addressed to President Donald Trump and intercepted. It is unclear when the writing was sent and where it was intercepted.

The poison, which is deadly in minimal quantities, causes nausea, vomiting, organ failure and eventually death. There is no known antidote. The ricin was discovered in an outside facility that screens mail addressed to the White House.

Tests show that the letter did indeed contain the poison. The suspect reportedly sent other letters to federal prisons discovered in various facilities, and an official told NBC News Saturday.

It was not immediately apparent to which prisons the letters had been sent or who the recipients were. Only one letter would have been addressed to a political figure.

In the past decade, there have been more threats to carry out attacks with ricin in the US. Prominent persons also received mail with the poison.

Among them, former president Barack Obama and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, then-mayor of New York. The actress who sent the letters in 2013 was sentenced to eighteen years in prison.