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British white supremacist jailed for making ricin

15 May 2010 04:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A white supremacist was jailed for 10 years Friday after he became the first person in Britain to be convicted of manufacturing a deadly chemical weapon, which he kept in a jar in his kitchen, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Ian Davison, 42, belonged to the "Aryan Strike Force" (ASF), a group that planned assaults on Muslims and Jews among others.
"He was a leading member of the ASF which was a neo-Nazi organization dedicated to using violence," prosecutor Andrew Edis told Newcastle Crown Court.
"The purpose of the violence was the creation of an international Aryan group who would establish white supremacy in white countries.
"They were followers of the ideology of Adolf Hitler, who they revered, and whose work Mein Kampf was among many available on their website."
Davison, from County Durham in northern England, made the ricin at his home in 2006 or early 2007, after researching how to make the killer chemical and then buying its easily-sourced ingredients, the Press Association news agency reported.
The poison -- enough to kill nine people -- was found when police raided the property last June and is now stored at Britain’s Porton Down chemical weapons center.
Ricin can cause death from exposure to as little as a pinhead amount. Most victims die between 36 hours and 72 hours after exposure and there is no known antidote.
The most famous case of ricin poisoning was in 1978 when dissident Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was killed when an assasin in London jabbed him with an umbrella that injected a tiny ricin-filled pellet.
At an earlier hearing, Davison admitted producing a chemical weapon, preparing acts of terrorism, possessing material useful to commit acts of terrorism and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Edis said the ASF had about 350 members recruited via the Internet, though not all were active. Others accused of being members will face trial later this year.
The court heard the ASF had not picked out particular targets, but had run a training camp and made promotional films.
Members had discussed posting cockroaches through letterboxes of restaurants and shops owned by Asians with the aim of encouraging infestations and getting them closed down.