2LT International News

LONDON, U.K. – Over the weekend, Britain’s counter-terrorism investigators, used all the knowledge they had acquired while dealing with a recent high-profile poisoning case – to understand why a couple from Wiltshire were found unconscious inside a house. 

Fresh from the case that involved a former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who were both poisoned in Britain’s Salisbury this year, investigators feared a sinister plot in the case on Saturday. 

When paramedics arrived at the Amesbury-based residence of the couple, identified as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, on Saturday, they learnt that both the man and the woman had collapsed at different points of time in the day. 

Further, both were said to be feeling unwell.

Explaining an initial understanding of the symptoms, Wiltshire Police stated, “It was initially believed that the two patients fell ill after using possibly heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch of drugs.”

The local police launched an in-depth investigation nonetheless, especially since the condition of the couple deteriorated drastically. 

The couple were taken to England’s Salisbury District Hospital, at which point, investigators began suspecting a much more dangerous form of poisoning that they previously thought. 

Late on Wednesday, after several tests were conducted, British police confirmed in a statement that the couple had been exposed to a military-grade nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union.

Further, officials revealed that it wasn’t just any nerve agent, but the very same one that had been used to poison the Skripals in March this year.

In a televised news conference, Britain’s most senior police counter-terrorism officer, Neil Basu revealed, “We can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, which has been identified as the same nerve agent that contaminated the Skripals.”

Basu further added, “The priority for the investigation team now is to establish how these two people have come into contact with this nerve agent.”

Following the revelation, May’s government was said to be planning to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the progress that has been made in the investigation so far.

U.K.’s counter-terrorism police learnt that the couple fell critically ill near the English town where the Skripals were said to have been poisoned. 

However, the police pointed out that so far, there was no evidence that the couple had visited the same sites.

Officials also pointed out that all the sites visited by the Skripals on the fateful day had already been decontaminated, possibly ruling out an accidental poisoning. 

Investigators also noted that even though the probe remained largely focussed on drawing possible connections between the two cases of poisoning, so far, there was “no intelligence to suggest that the couple had been targeted deliberately.”

Basu pointed out that while the exact circumstances of the incident remain unclear, “I have received test results from Porton Down [military research centre] which show that the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.”

The top cop also said that the police did not yet know how the Novichok nerve agent was transmitted onto the two British nationals, who continue to battle for their lives at the Salisbury District Hospital.

In March, the poisoning of the former Russian agent on U.K. soil left British authorities fuming and the country formally accused Russia of poisoning the Skripals with the Novichok nerve agent.

The alleged attack sparked a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, which has since seen tit-for-tat expulsions of hundreds of diplomats from both sides.

Further, Britain’s close allies have mirrored the expulsions in a sign of solidarity with the country.

Yet, Russia continued to deny any role in the poisoning, even pointing out at one point that the former spy would be dead if he had been targeted with “a military-grade poison.”

While some of Britain’s closest allies, including the U.S. accepted the proof of Russia’s involvement, that was presented to them at a meeting convened by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May – some EU nations refused to launch a direct salvo against Russia and instead indicated that it was possible the country lost control of its stockpiles. 

Between 1971 and 1993, the Soviet Union and Russia, developed Novichok, a series of nerve agents that could be adapted for military use.

Its creators described Novichok as the deadliest nerve agents ever made, and first tested the chemical warfare agent at a site in Nukus, an isolated city in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic. 

However, in 1999, the United States and Uzbekistan agreed on a cleanup program.