Investigations are now underway after a package containing the poison Ricin addressed to the White House was intercepted by law enforcement officials earlier this week.
The package, addressed to Donald Trump was intercepted at a secure offsite facility earlier this week, White House officials said.
Two law enforcement officials said tests confirmed the presence of the poison.
“The FBI and our U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service partners are investigating a suspicious letter received at a U.S. government mail facility. At this time, there is no known threat to public safety,” the FBI said in a statement.
Ricin is a toxic compound extracted from the castor bean that causes intestinal distress and bleeding, then organ failure and eventually death.
Reports say Ricin has been previously used in terror plots because it is relatively stable and can be deployed in numerous forms: powder, acid, pellet or mist.
“An average adult needs only 1.78 mg of ricin injected or inhaled to die; that’s about the size of a few grains of table salt—which ricin resembles visually,” according to the Popular Science.
The U.S. Secret Service and the FBI have launched an investigation in an effort to track the source of the package which they believe may have come from Canada.
