A letter addressed to President Barack Obama has tested positive for traces of the deadly poison ricin, it was revealed today, making it the second poison-laced letter intended for high-ranking members of the U.S. government.
The Secret Service said that the letter contained a 'suspicious substance.'
A source told ABC News that another letter has shown traces of the substance only a day after authorities intercepted a letter addressed to Mississippi Republican Sen. Rocker Wicker.
The Capitol Police did not immediately return MailOnline's request for comment. It is unclear whether the two letters containing ricin are at all related.
A suspicious letter that tested positive for ricin, a substance that is fatal when ingested, was sent yesterday to Mississippi Republican’s offices in Washington. News of the package sent shock waves throughout Capitol Hill.
The FBI and Capitol Police have not yet released the identity of the suspect to the public, but Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri said today that the person in question ‘writes a lot of letters to (Congress) members.’
Both authorities declined to comment further on the situation.
The discovery of the ricin-laced letter put politicians on edge, as its delivery came only a day after Monday’s deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon.
The letter was believed to originate in Memphis, Tennessee, and it did not have a return address, according to initial reports.
The letter tested positive for ricin three times, but due to the frequency of false-positives on ricin tests, it will undergo further testing in a Baltimore lab.
In response to the ricin letter, the House and Senate have temporarily closed their post offices.
Read More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2310533/Obama-ricin-Second-letter-tested-positive-poison-addressed-president.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
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