Ex-Massachusetts biotech firm director allegedly lied to FBI about buying castor beans to extract toxin ricin
Fox News
The former researcher director of a Massachusetts biotechnology firm was indicted on federal charges Tuesday after allegedly purchasing several hundred castor oil plant seeds online, researching how to extract from them the deadly toxin ricin – and then lying to FBI agents saying he just wanted to use them to grow "decorative" house plants.
In June 2015, when Saaem held a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, resided in Massachusetts and worked as the director of advanced research at a biotechnology firm, he ordered six lily of the valley plants and 100 packets of castor beans, each containing eight seeds, online, according to the charging document. Ricin is a poison that can be extracted from the seeds – or beans -- of the castor oil plant, which can grow in Massachusetts but does not survive the winter, according to the complete charging document obtained by the Boston Globe. A different toxin, convallatoxin, can be extracted from the lily of the valley, a perennial garden plant common in New England.
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