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LONDON – British investigators investigating the poisoning of two people with a military-grade nerve agent said Friday that a small bottle found in the home of one of the victims was tested positive for Novichok, a lethal substance produced in the Soviet Union during the cold. War
Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, were disgusted on June 30 in a town in southwestern England, not far from Salisbury, where a former Russian spy and her daughter were poisoned in Novichok in March.
Sturgess died in a hospital Sunday. Rowley was in critical condition for over a week, but regained consciousness.
The Metropolitan Police said the bottle was found during the excavations of Rowley's house on Wednesday and scientists confirmed that the bottle was Novichok. Police have been questioning Rowley since he became aware.
Police continue to look for where the bottle comes from and how it got into Rowley's house. They said that further tests would be carried out to try to establish whether the nerve agent came from the same batch as that used to poison the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia .
More than 100 police officers were searching for the source of the Rowley and Sturgess exhibit in the city of Amesbury, where they lived, and Salisbury, where the Skripals were poisoned.
The Skripals survived and were released from Salisbury Hospital before Rowley and Sturgess were poisoned. British authorities took father and daughter to a protected secret location
British police said earlier that she suspected the new victims of handling a container contaminated by Novichok and that she was not safe. had no reason to think that Rowley and Sturgess were deliberately targeted. Commissioner Neil Basu, one of Britain's leading counterterrorism officials, told local residents this week that Novichok could remain active for 50 years when it was kept in a sealed container. He said that he could not guarantee that there would be no more trace of the deadly poison in the area.
Basu said Friday that the cords would remain in place in some places to protect the public despite the apparent breakthrough in the case. He will not provide more information about the bottle found in Rowley's house.
"This is clearly a significant and positive development, but we can not guarantee that no more substance remains," Basu said. The continued blockage of the areas would allow "to pursue further research as a precautionary measure for public safety and to badist the investigation team."
The British Foreign Office said Friday that the United Kingdom had asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. collect samples for badysis in their laboratories. The organization has the power to badign responsibility for the use of chemical weapons.
The Novichok saga began in March when the Skripal fell mysteriously sick on a park bench in Salisbury. They were found to have been poisoned with Novichok.
Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the Russian government for the attack, which the Kremlin vehemently denied. The case has led the United States and other countries to expel a large number of Russian diplomats.
Public health officials said the risk of public exposure was low, but they advised people not to pick up strange objects. Times Times Colonist
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