Father of two, living in Liverpool, tries to buy deadly ricin powder – then, a pet to test it on

A father of two of Liverpool tried to buy a deadly and poisonous powder ricin on the net - he contacted with a US based firm and placed an order for supply of 500mg of the chemical weapon. The quantity would have been enough to kill at least 1400 persons. However, his plan failed because the ever alert FBI intercepted his calls and, an informer took up the role of the ‘supplier’.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 22 July 2015.

The man is 31-year-old and a computer programmer and he had, allegedly paid $500 for five vials of the poison. He had asked that it be shipped to his home in Liverpool disguised as 'special batteries' for a toy car.
The product ricin was 'the poisoner's perfect poison' - its symptoms are non-specific and it does not show up in a post-mortem examination.
The man then went about searching the net to buy an animal like a rabbit, chinchilla or other 'pocket-sized pet' on which he wanted to try out the effectiveness of ricin.
It is said that a 100mg dose is enough to kill up to 280 people within three to five days, while 500mg can kill between 700 and 1,400.
The police have not come across any evidence to suggest that he has any association with terrorist activities or terrorist organizations, but FBI does not want to take any chances.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Six women vanish from Ohio – suspected to be victims of serial killing

There are fears that a serial killer is on the loose in Chillicothe, Ohio since six women have gone missing from this city – their bodies have been recovered from streams and creeks last year. One of them was shot in the head. The FBI is investigating these cases. Moreover, five of them had children and one was pregnant.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 25 June 2015.

As revealed by the Ross County Sheriff's Department – it is a small community and, in view of the number of females who have gone missing, and then the recovery of the bodies there are doubts on whether these are the work of a serial killer.
It seems most of the women had a history of drug use, and some of them had reportedly worked as prostitutes to pay for their drug habits.
The city of Chillicothe has a population below 22,000 and is located around 60 miles south of Columbus. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Jihadi John identified as belonging to a respectable London family

#JihadiJohn #Kuwait #London #ISIS #JamesFoley #StevenSotloff ‘Jihadi John’ was the name given to The Islamic State executioner who has been seen in videos of beheading of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker David Haines, 22 Syrian soldiers and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
He has now been identified as a man from London as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 26 February 2015. His actual name is Mohammed Emwazi, was born in Kuwait. He is 27-years-old and resident of Queen’s Park, west London. Moreover, he is a computer programming graduate from the University of Westminster and it is believed that he had travelled to Syria in 2012 and later joined ISIS.
The identification has been apparently done by one of his close friends who said Mohammed Emwazi was like a brother to him.
Another person named Asim Qureshi, research director a British human rights group Cage, also believed the man was Jihadi John. Qureshi had been in contact with Mohammed Emwazi before he left for Syria.
The FBI had been trying to identify Jihadi John by using various investigative techniques like voice analysis and interviews with former hostages. British Prime Minister David Cameron has reiterated that Jihadi John has to face justice for the inhuman and appalling acts that have been committed in Syria.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings

Al-Shabaab eyes malls in London – could carry out Westgate style attacks

#WestgateMall #alshabaab #MallofAmerica #WestfieldMall Terrorist group al-Shabaab has plans to carry out Westgate style in London, the United States and Canada. It has, apparently, released a graphic video calling for such attacks on shopping districts like Oxford Street in London apart from major shopping centers in the United States and Canada as revealed in dailymail.co.uk dated 23 February 2015.
Security officials have taken the threat seriously because the terrorist group has called on Jihadis who are living in the west to target major shopping centers in their home cities. Among possible targets are London's Oxford Street, and the Westfield malls in Stratford and White City.
It may be recalled that the al-Shabaab had laid a siege in 2013 siege on Kenya's Westgate Mall and it resulted in the death of 62 people.
It is a matter of concern that in the video, the terrorist had indicated the GPS co-ordinates for the Westfield shopping centers in Stratford, East London and White City in West London – obviously, tensions are high.
Other possible targets could be the Mall of America in Minnesota or the West Edmonton mall in Canada or in London’s Oxford Street or any of the hundred or so of the Jewish owned Westfield shopping centers.
In view of the threats, the Mall of America is taking 'extra security precautions' and its officials are coordinating and working closely with the FBI and America's Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This mall is the country's largest shopping center, with 40million visitors a year.

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Three American teenage girls of Colorado tried to join ISIS

Three teenage American girls of Colorado made an attempt to join the ISIS fighters but were apprehended midway in Frankfurt and have returned home foxnews.com - all the girls are believed to be under 18-years-old and have not bee charged with any offence.

The FBI is investigating the case and examining all the possibilities.
It seems two of the girls are of Somali descent and one is of Sudanese descent and planned to travel to Syria to join militant groups. The girl s apparently planned "to fulfill what they believe is some vision that has been put out on a slick media campaign."
An overseas contact convinced the girls to come to Germany.

The girls had vanished from their homes last week and traveled from Colorado to Chicago, and from there to Frankfurt. The girls’ family members reported them missing to authorities in Denver, who subsequently worked with German authorities to track them down. One of the girls had told the German authorities that they were planning to go to Turkey “to study."

FBI pulled the legs of car bomber in Portland

FBI pulled the legs of a young 23-year-old Somali American Mohamed Mohamud who had plotted to bomb the downtown square of Portland at Christmas time nzherald.co.nz - as a result, the individual has been sentenced to a prison term of 30-years.
The prosecutors had wanted a punishment of 40-year term for the 2010 incident plot that was, in reality, an FBI sting. But US District Court Judge Garr King did not agree because of the youth of the person coupled with remorse he had shown for his actions.
Incidentally, Mohamud, former Oregon State University student, had been arrested on November 26, 2010 – he had pressed a keypad button on a cellphone which, he had been led to believe, would trigger a massive truck bomb and would kill people who had gathered for an annual Christmas tree-lighting event.
The bomb was a fake that had been provided by FBI agents who had posed as agents of al-Qaeda recruiters. The undercover agents had, reportedly, befriended Mohamud after learning that he had written for an online jihadi magazine and exchanged emails with accused terrorists.

Bad news for America – beheading enters its backyard in Oklahoma

This is bad news for America because the culture of beheading has now entered its backyard nzherald.co.nz – it appears that a worker who had recently tried to convert colleagues to Islam beheaded one of them in a frenzied knife rampage after being fired from his job.
The suspect, identified as 30-year-old Alton Nolen, attacked another colleague with the knife before being shot by the Oklahoma food distribution firm's boss.
The suspect Nolen survived and was in hospital in a stable condition and he had chosen his victims at random. The police have ruled out any immediate indication of a link with terrorism.
From the sequence of events Nolen went to the parking lot, then drove his vehicle to the front of the business and entered the main entrance where he encountered and killed Colleen Hufford with a knife. During the attack, Nolen severed the victim's head.
In view of the nature of the crime local police have called in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
A spokesman for the Islamic Council of Oklahoma said Muslims were "shocked, horrified and saddened." It seems Nolen had recently converted to Islam but spokeswoman Sheryl Siddiqui has revealed that he was not known to any of the leadership in Oklahoma mosques. The Washington DC-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) also said it was "horrified."

FBI reports indicate that mass shootings in the US has increased

FBI has released a report that indicates that the number of shootings where a gunman wounds or kills multiple people has increased dramatically in recent years theguardian.com – the majority of attacks in the last decade have occurred at a business or a school and these add up to 160 “active shooter incidents” between 2000 and 2013.
Such instances are typically defined as cases in which a gunman in an attack shoots or attempts to shoot people in a populated area. The report does not include shootings that are gang and drug related.
The aim of the study, conducted in conjunction with Texas State University, as explained by federal law enforcement officials, was to compile accurate data about the attacks and to help local police prepare for or respond to similar killings in the future.
As per the report, an average of six shooting incidents occurred in the first seven years that were studied and that increased to over 16 per year in the last seven years of the study. The period under review included the 2012 shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, apart from last year’s massacre at the Washington Navy Yard in which a gunman killed 12 people before dying in a police shootout.

Bali Suitcase murder - daughter kills her mother and stuffs the body in a suitcase

19-year-old Heather Mack and her boyfriend 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer murdered Heather’s mother Ms von Wiese-Mack and stuffed her corpse inside a suitcase dailymail.co.uk. – it was a silver, blood-stained suitcase and was left in the trunk of a taxi outside an upmarket hotel in Bali, Indonesia.
Heather Mack and her boyfriend are suspected of murder. In Indonesia, naming a suspect is a formal part of the criminal process before they are officially charged. As per officials, future charges could include premeditated murder, which carries a maximum sentence of death by firing squad.
As per preliminary investigations, the police say she was bludgeoned to death with an ashtray and a vase, which both smashed after impacts with her head. The bloodstained shards of glass have fingerprints on them but detectives have not revealed whether they belong to Mack or Schaefer.
The FBI have been drafted in to help Indonesian police with their investigations.
Although no motive has yet been established for the murder, it seems the young American couple had a disagreement with 62-year-old Ms von Weise-Mack on who was paying for their hotel rooms.
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