Deadly Toxin found in Las Vegas Extended Stay Hotel

Deadly Toxin found in Las Vegas Extended Stay Hotel

www.cnn.com

Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel after staff found a suspicious substance in one of the rooms.

"They determined it might be some biological agent, and through presumptive tests, we determined it to be ricin," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

The discovery of ricin alarms law-enforcement agencies because authorities in several countries have investigated links between suspect extremists and ricin.

"This is not a terror incident at this point," Lombardo said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is pretty scary. Why? Because they say this is not Yet a terror attack. Why yet?

As little as 500 micrograms -- an amount the size of the head of a pin -- can kill an adult. It is not yet known how much of the material was found in the room.

This has spooky implications.

And for the unadvised...

Symptoms of ricin poisoning can include anything from difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

I hope this is the last we hear of this...

AAC




www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 29-2-2008 by AnAbsoluteCreation]

Okay my first thought was that this place was the aftermath of the suspects hotel after they checked out. Which would mean they checked out with the major supply of the stuff. Or at least I hope not.

EDIT:

Metro said there was no indication anyone was making ricin, but they are looking for the people who last stayed in the apartment. They will not elaborate on the amount found.

They haven't found them yet. And it seems they are saying it doesn't look like they were cooking it there.

FoxVegas


AAC

[edit on 29-2-2008 by AnAbsoluteCreation]

Originally posted by AnAbsoluteCreation
Okay my first thought was that this place was the aftermath of the suspects hotel after they checked out. Which would mean they checked out with the major supply of the stuff. Or at least I hope not.

EDIT:

Metro said there was no indication anyone was making ricin, but they are looking for the people who last stayed in the apartment. They will not elaborate on the amount found.

They haven't found them yet. And it seems they are saying it doesn't look like they were cooking it there.

FoxVegas


AAC

[edit on 29-2-2008 by AnAbsoluteCreation]

That part of town is more conducive to a meth lab. My knowledge of ricin is very limited, anyway it could be a byproduct of meth?

Perhaps. But they did say that no sign of making the toxin there, you think they'd mention if a meth lab was previous there. I don't know though, they are being stingy with the details.

AAC

Ricin. Derivative of a common plant. 40 times more deadly than a cobra bite. A pin prick of such can kill easily. I'm seeing internal terrorism at work.

Originally posted by slackerwire

That part of town is more conducive to a meth lab. My knowledge of ricin is very limited, anyway it could be a byproduct of meth?

Sorry, but no. Ricin is not related to meth in any way, nor could it be a byproduct of meth production. Really the only thing it could have to do with meth is taint it to kill off users (faster). If meth users in Vegas start dropping like flies suddenly, I guess we'll know!

Is Ricin deadly in water? Because the Hotel is across from the Water Plant from what I have read.

There is more to this than is being released.

As far as I know, yes Ricin is extremely deadly if put into the water supply. I was wondering when someone would make that connection, a few pounds of the stuff could be enough to poison a whole city's drinking water.

I am not ruling out terrorism, but if it were truly terrorists, don't you think they would have done a bit more than deliver a poisonous package? This seems like the actions of someone that wants attention or to just scare someone. If they truly intended harm it would have been released somewhere more populated or important.

Originally posted by esdad71
Is Ricin deadly in water? Because the Hotel is across from the Water Plant from what I have read.

Good spot!

www.bt.cdc.gov...

How you could be exposed to ricin

* It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people. Accidental exposure to ricin is highly unlikely.
* People can breathe in ricin mist or powder and be poisoned.
* Ricin can also get into water or food and then be swallowed.
* Pellets of ricin, or ricin dissolved in a liquid, can be injected into people’s bodies.
* Depending on the route of exposure (such as injection or inhalation), as little as 500 micrograms of ricin could be enough to kill an adult. A 500-microgram dose of ricin would be about the size of the head of a pin. A greater amount would likely be needed to kill people if the ricin were swallowed.

So drinking risin-contaminated water might not be so bad as breathing it in, but I have not yet found how much is needed in water to be lethal.

Originally posted by esdad71There is more to this than is being released.

Agreed and hopefully the information they have but have not yet shared with the public is proving of great value to them.

I believe ricin is a toxin that comes from the castor bean. I found more info on wikipedia for you guys. Castor beans and the oil have a lot of common (non-poison) uses.

en.wikipedia.org...

There are two hotels belonging to that chain in Vegas and I checked both on Google Earth. One is in a semi-residential area and I don't see anything that looks like a water treatment plant anywhere near it, but the other is in an industrial complex only a few blocks from the city's biggest casinos and the chances are pretty good that there would be a water treatment plant nearby to handle all the hotels.

One other thing.. all of the casinos have large outdoor swimming pools and even man-made beaches. It would be very easy to dump ricin in a pool.

"This event does not appear to be terrorism related," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said Friday morning. Kolko said the FBI was assisting local police in the investigation.

There are still shaky details to this, but it did read that Homeland Security has gotten with the FBI on this. I'd still like to know how much, where exactly it was found, and were who the people that were staying there last?

AP

AAC

The explosion in Tampa with the guy in the garage of a store that 'exploded' is not 'terror related' either. Move along here, nothing to see.

A small amount was found which appeared to be left behind. Now, if you were a domestic or foriegn terrorist and you did your job, would you take it with you? No, you would leave it. I just wish i had a contact in Vegas to get more information.

Yeah, it seems like the FBI could bust in on a middle-eastern guy, talking on the phone to Osama while making ricin and wearing an explosive belt, and Homeland Security STILL will say there is no evidence of "terrorism"...Help! The terrorists have invaded our imaginations!

www.bloomberg.com...

Seems that the man who was in the room is now in a coma...

www.bloomberg.com...

Seems that the man who was in the room is now in a coma...

Good article. I just found this:

The investigation of the apparent ricin didn't begin until Thursday, police said, after someone Suey identified as "a friend or relative" went to the sick man's hotel room to retrieve his belongings and found "several" vials of a powder and brought it to the motel manager. Police were ultimately called to the Extended Stay America Motel several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip.

Several vials? And it's not considered terror related? Interesting.

ABC

AAC

The Ricin has been confirmed, however, the information is shaky at best.

Breaking news

AAC