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GETTY IMAGES –
The letter was intercepted by law enforcement before it reached the White House, officials said<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of sending a package containing ricin poison to US President Donald Trump, according to US immigration officials.<\/strong><\/p>\n The unnamed woman was found at a border crossing in Buffalo, New York, as she tried to enter the US from Canada, and was reportedly carrying a gun.<\/p>\n The letter containing the deadly poison is believed to have come from Canada, according to investigators there.<\/p>\n The letter was discovered last week before it could reach the White House.<\/p>\n Ricin, a poison found naturally in castor beans, has been used in other attempted attacks against the White House in recent years.<\/p>\n The Trump administration is yet to comment on the reports.<\/p>\n The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Secret Service are investigating the package, which was discovered at a processing facility for mail sent to the White House.<\/p>\n “At this time, there is no known threat to public safety,”\u00a0the FBI told CNN on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The suspect may have also sent ricin to five addresses in Texas, including a jail and a sheriff’s office, according to police.<\/p>\n The presence of ricin was confirmed after several tests by the FBI, authorities said.<\/p>\n The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Saturday it was working with the FBI to investigate the “suspicious letter sent to the White House”.<\/p>\n A spokesman for the Mission, Texas, police department\u00a0told the Associated Press on Monday<\/a>\u00a0an envelope was in the care of local officials and no one had been hurt.<\/p>\n Another Texas Sheriff, Eddie Guerra in Hidalgo County, also confirmed envelopes with ricin were posted to staff there, but reported no injuries.<\/p>\n The RCMP division in Quebec is leading a search of a residence in the Montreal suburb of St-Hubert, which authorities said on Monday is linked to the suspect.<\/p>\n Their chemicals and explosives team is on site, along with local police and fire units.<\/p>\n The suspect is due to appear in court on Tuesday in Buffalo.<\/p>\n Ricin is a lethal substance that, if swallowed, inhaled or injected, can cause nausea, vomiting, internal bleeding and ultimately organ failure.<\/p>\n No known antidote exists for ricin. If a person is exposed to ricin, death can take place within 36 to 72 hours, depending on the dose received,\u00a0according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n GETTY IMAGES – The CDC said the poison – which has been used in terror plots – can be manufactured into a weapon in the form of a powder, mist or pellet.<\/p>\n The White House and other federal buildings have been the target of ricin packages in the past.<\/p>\n In 2014, a Mississippi man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sending letters dusted with ricin to former President Barack Obama and other officials.<\/p>\n Four years later, in 2018, a former Navy veteran was charged with sending toxic letters to the Pentagon and White House.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/103695011_gettyimages-974121152.jpg\")
Castor seeds, which are used to make the deadly ricin poison<\/p><\/div>\n