A woman who allegedly sent a letter containing ricin, the poison, to President Donald Trump at the White House, has been arrested at the Canadian border as she tried to enter the United States, the US media reported on Sunday. The woman was allegedly carrying a gun.
The suspect was trying to enter the US from Canada via the border in New York state when she was taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection officers, CNN reported. She is expected to face federal charges, law enforcement officials told news agency AP.
Last week, law enforcement officials intercepted the package that contained recin. Authorities were investigating the possibility that it was sent from Canada, reports said.
CNN reported that the letter had been mailed from St Hubert in Quebec. Tests were done to confirm that the substance in the letter contained the presence of ricin.
Letters were also sent to law enforcement agencies — a detention facility and a sheriff's office — in Texas containing the lethal substance.
This is not the first time that letters containing ricin have been sent to sitting presidents. In 2013, letters were sent to President Barack Obama and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.
The letter containing the potentially fatal poison was addressed to US President Donald Trump.
Officials intercepted it on Saturday at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House. Preliminary tests by the FBI showed the letter tested positive for the substance, which is found naturally in castor beans. No one was injured.
The lethal substance can cause vomiting, internal bleeding and organ failure if swallowed, inhaled, or injected. No known antidote exists. The toxic compound is extracted from castor beans, and has been previously used in terror plots, reports say.
It appears to have been sent from Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. The woman had allegedly also sent letters to prisons.
With inputs from DW