UK -Major incident declared - UK anti-terror police investigating possible nerve agent attack, 2018

[Satchie]

I wonder whether Skripal's address was known to Russia, or whether the assassins followed his daughter from the airport to his home.

It seems to me the Skripals must have been attacked at the bench, since the nerve agent apparently acts very quickly. So I'm confused why the policeman who visited their home fell ill. The assassins must have tried to contaminate the home, but it hadn't worked on the Skripals, altho it worked somewhat on the policeman.

 

[Inthedetails]

UK police identify suspects in Novichok poisoning case, source says - CNN
"The source said investigators have been combing through months of surveillance camera footage from UK airports and from Salisbury, where the Skripals were poisoned in an attack the British government blames on Russia.
Using facial recognition technology, authorities discovered two "fresh identities" -- individuals not known to have been spies or used in other attacks -- the source added.
Investigators crosschecked that information with the manifest of the flight on which the suspects were believed to have left Britain soon after the attack in March. They traveled on aliases, the source said.
A British station in Cyprus intercepted a coded Russian message to Moscow just after the poisoning saying that the pair had left the UK, the source said."
rbbm.

So the suspects left in March, which means the images they have are not recent ones. And the latest two victims apparently had the perfume bottle for awhile, not a recent "dumpster-dive find" as we had been thinking.

The timing of everything is a bit confusing to me.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

I wonder whether Skripal's address was known to Russia, or whether the assassins followed his daughter from the airport to his home.

It seems to me the Skripals must have been attacked at the bench, since the nerve agent apparently acts very quickly. So I'm confused why the policeman who visited their home fell ill. The assassins must have tried to contaminate the home, but it hadn't worked on the Skripals, altho it worked somewhat on the policeman.

Could someone have been contaminating the house at the same time another person was poisoning them on the park bench?

just thinking aloud. jmo

 

[Satchie]

Wow, how the heck do CNN know that?

"The source said......"

A leak?

Between fake news on the one hand, and coverups on the other, it's hard to know what to believe anymore.

For eg, I looked at that story you linked earlier Russian assassin 'sent to kill double agent who betrayed Anna Chapman' and googled to see if there had been any actual assassination. It turns out that story may have been deliberately planted as disinformation by Russia. Is This American Spy Dead? Or Was He Ever Real?

Makes your head spin.

 

[Satchie]

So the suspects left in March, which means the images they have are not recent ones. And the latest two victims apparently had the perfume bottle for awhile, not a recent "dumpster-dive find" as we had been thinking.

The timing of everything is a bit confusing to me.

jmo

The Skripal's were attacked in early March. So the attackers must have left right after that, disposing of the nerve agent, apparently, in the park, where it lay undiscovered until now.

I think police immediately after the initial attack would have collected a lot of CCTV footage from wherever the Skripals were known to have been in the previous days.

I don't know whether there was a camera filming the actual attack. They might, however, have been able to identify people who had been following the Skripal's around, or going to their home. They'd then have tried to use other footage to follow the attackers to where they were staying. Also apparently, they've been enhancing the CCTV footage and running it through facial recognition software to possibly compare it with passport photos of people who left the UK after the attack.

All this is very time consuming work.

 

[Shiressleuth]

The Skripal's were attacked in early March. So the attackers must have left right after that, disposing of the nerve agent, apparently, in the park, where it lay undiscovered until now.

I think police immediately after the initial attack would have collected a lot of CCTV footage from wherever the Skripals were known to have been in the previous days.

I don't know whether there was a camera filming the actual attack. They might, however, have been able to identify people who had been following the Skripal's around, or going to their home. They'd then have tried to use other footage to follow the attackers to where they were staying. Also apparently, they've been enhancing the CCTV footage and running it through facial recognition software to possibly compare it with passport photos of people who left the UK after the attack.

All this is very time consuming work.

Yes I agree. And now it is a murder case ( so more urgency ) and they don't know if there is any more discarded, still laying around.

 

[dotr]

Police ID'd Russians for Skripal poisonings: British media | CBC News
"There was about a five-hour window on March 3, when the former-agent-turned-British-informer left his home to travel to Heathrow airport to pick up Yulia, who was returning from a visit to Moscow."

"Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, seemed unfazed by the reports during a Moscow event today,

"We don't have official statements of the British side," he told reporters. "Every time we read a new version in the British papers, we ask the Foreign Office to confirm what is true or not."

 

[dotr]

Woman among Russian hit squad of four identified as Skripal poisoning suspects
"Salisbury poisoning: Woman among Russian hit squad of four identified as key suspects in Skripal novichok probe
CCTV footage shows two people carrying and administering the nerve agent and others providing backup"

"The progress made on identification was also confirmed by American as well as British security sources earlier this week. US intelligence agencies have been closely involved in the Salisbury investigation from the start."

 

[jiminy]

*ignore me*

 

[dotr]

How 'Putin's spy agency' hit squad carried out Novichok mission | Daily Mail Online
"The team fled to Heathrow where they are believed to have flown to Moscow on an Aeroflot jet on March 5 - 30 hours after they arrived - shunning the usual circuitous spy route home via an airport in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Switzerland or Turkey.

The same day a British listening station in Cyprus is understood to have intercepted a coded message to Moscow that included the phrase: ‘The package has been delivered’ and said the team has 'made a successful egress'.

An Aeroflot flight that landed in London on March 30 was boarded by UK's border force for a 'routine' search - but MailOnline has studied its flight data and can reveal this is the same plane that may have carried the assassins home on March 5."

Woman among Russian hit squad of four identified as Skripal poisoning suspects

rbbm.
"It is believed, however, that no evidence had been found so far to prove that the attack was ordered directly by senior figures in the Kremlin, or Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. It is not known whether those involved had decided to carry out the attack autonomously or in conjunction with others, including members of organised crime gangs with security connections."

 

[dotr]

 

[Inthedetails]

Is that from today? They are still searching the park?

 

[dotr]

Is that from today? They are still searching the park?

Drone footage apparently from yesterday ( Thursday).
rbbm.
Novichok poisonings: police release drone footage of search
"Police investigating the nerve agent poisonings of five people in Wiltshire have released drone footage of officers searching a shallow stream in a Salisbury park".
"The stretch of water being searched is a branch of the river Avon that splits off from the main waterway north of the city centre and joins back up with it just south of the park.

Intriguingly, the branch runs close to the Sainsbury’s car park where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, parked before collapsing on a bench in March after being exposed to novichok.

At the time the branch was flowing swiftly and the park is downstream of the car park, opening up the possibility that the attackers could have discarded the bottle after seeing the Skripals collapse.

Police have made it clear, however, that they believe the Skripals were poisoned after coming into contact with novichok at the front door of the former spy’s house on the outskirts of the city.

The drone footage was taken on Thursday. On Friday about six officers in protective clothing entered public toilets in car park next to Queen Elizabeth Gardens at about 2.30pm. They were inside for about an hour and left with items in clear plastic bags."

 

[Ellmau]

Charlie Rowley has been discharged from hospital. I hope he has someone looking after him because he's going to be in a pretty vulnerable state having lost his partner.

Novichok victim leaves hospital

 

[Shiressleuth]

Vehicle used to pick up Yulia Skripal from airport seized for forensic tests

This is the article that mentions the possibility of the novichok being in Yulia's luggage or cosmetics.

Now we know the assassins travelled in to Heathrow on the same day. Was it even on the same flight?

Then they left on the 5th. So how did they get to Salisbury and back? It is about a 3 hour drive from Heathrow and the poisoning happened on the 4th. Did they hire a car?

 

[Ellmau]

there are also public transpor5 options which would avoid the need for any ID.

 

[Shiressleuth]

there are also public transpor5 options which would avoid the need for any ID.

London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Salisbury - 5 ways to travel via bus, train, car, towncar

Yes - or an agent could have picked them up. It's only around 2 hrs - see link above.

 

[Shiressleuth]

That's frightening if they took the nerve agent on public transport. I would think it more likely someone met them and drove them down there and back again.moo

 

[Razz]

That's frightening if they took the nerve agent on public transport. I would think it more likely someone met them and drove them down there and back again.moo

It's scary they carried it on a plane.

 

[Ellmau]

Apparently police are now searching public toilets - possibly where Dawn and Charlie picked up the contaminated item.

Novichok: Forensic teams in hazmats search toilets