A letter addressed to President Barack Obama tested positive for the poison ricin and was from the same sender who mailed a letter to a senator that also tested positive, officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
The letter to Obama was intercepted at an off-site White House mail facility and was being tested further, the FBI said. A federal law enforcement official said that the letter was “very similar” to one addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Federal officials told NBC News that they believe they know who sent the letters, but no arrest was made because authorities were waiting for further test results.
Ricin is made from castor beans and can kill within 36 hours. There is no antidote. Some threatening letters simply contain ground castor beans, resulting in a positive field test for ricin without the concentrated poison. Results from full laboratory tests are expected in the next 24 to 48 hours....
So we really don't know if these if these letters contain deadly ricin, or just ground up beans, which appears to be more likely (making ricin is a pretty complicated procedure). But it just seems too darn coincidental that these letters would be arriving so soon after the bombings in Boston.
No one really knows exactly why gold prices are dropping, but Cyprus has announced it will be selling of at least some of its gold reserves as part of an EU bailout plan. And China's economic problems are well known too, and they may well be trying to raise some cash.
