The Latest: Police say Britons were exposed to nerve agent

AMESBURY, England (AP) — The Latest on the major incident near Salisbury, England, in which two people have been left in a critical condition (all times local):

British police say two Britons who fell critically ill in the town of Amesbury were exposed to nerve agent Novichok, the same material used to poison a former Russian spy in a nearby area last spring.

Medical officials said Wednesday people who had been in the area where the couple had been should take precautions and wash their clothes.

Police said it is unclear if this incident is linked to the earlier poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, or if the batch was the same as the one that poisoned them on March 4.

Counter-terrorism police detective Neil Basu said it is unclear if the couple were targeted or if the poisoning was accidental.

British police say the two people in critical condition after being exposed to an unknown substance near where a former Russian spy was poisoned are British nationals.

Police said the couple was local to Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4. Police did not name the couple, but friends have named them as Charlie Rowley 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44.

Authorities declared a "major incident" Wednesday after a man and a woman were found unconscious Saturday at a residential building in Amesbury.

Police stressed during a news conference that public health officials do not believe there is a significant health risk to the wider public.

British police say counterterrorism officers are working with local detectives after two people were sickened by an unknown substance in southwest England.

The Metropolitan Police says "officers from the counter terrorism network are working jointly with colleagues from Wiltshire Police" on the incident in Amesbury.

Police say a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury. The town is eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4.

Police say they are keeping an open mind and do not yet know whether a crime has been committed.

British police declared a "major incident" Wednesday after two people were left in critical condition from exposure to an unknown substance a few miles from where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent.

The Wiltshire Police force said a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious at a residential building in Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned on March 4.

Police cordoned off the building and other places the two people visited before falling ill, but health officials said there was not believed to be a wider risk.

The man and woman were hospitalized Saturday at Salisbury District Hospital, where authorities initially believed they might have taken a contaminated batch of heroin or crack cocaine.

"However, further testing is now ongoing to establish the substance which led to these patients becoming ill and we are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding this incident," police said. "At this stage, it is not yet clear if a crime has been committed." </s> A couple poisoned in Amesbury were exposed to Novichok - the same substance that almost killed a Russian spy and his daughter.

Charlie Rowley, 45, and 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess were named by friends as the pair who fell critically ill after being exposed to the never agent.

In a press conference this evening, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu confirmed the substance was Novichok.

He said there is no intelligence to say the pair were "targeted" in any way.

Mr Basu said it was "a line of inquiry" over whether the latest poisoning was linked to that of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March.

Charlie and Dawn were found unconscious at a property on Saturday, with one friend describing how Charlie was "garbling" and acting like a "zombie".

The couple's flat is around eight miles from where Russian Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in March this year.

Today, a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee took place at official level in the Cabinet Office to discuss the events.

It was understood samples of the substance were sent to the Government chemical weapons research laboratory at Porton Down.

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In a press statement this evening, Mr Basu said: "Earlier today, Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills, from Wiltshire Police gave an update on the situation. However, I can confirm tonight that there has been a significant development and that the Counter Terrorism Policing Network is now leading the investigation into this incident.

"This evening we have received test results from Porton Down that show the two people have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

"At approximately 10:15hrs on Saturday, 30 June, the South West Ambulance Service was called to a residential address in Amesbury, where a 44-year-old woman had collapsed. She was subsequently taken to hospital.

"At around 15:30hrs that day, the ambulance service was called back to the same address, where a 45-year-old man had also fallen ill. The man was taken to hospital and Wiltshire Police were informed. </s> British police on Sunday said a woman who was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok in Amesbury, near the southwestern town of Salisbury, had died.

London's Metropolitan Police said 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess died on Sunday in a Salisbury hospital and the case had now become a homicide investigation.

Police said Sturgess and 45-year-old Charlie Rowley, who remains in critical condition in hospital, were exposed to Novichok, the same type of nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury In March.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "appalled and shocked" by the death.

The pair was found unconscious on June 30 at a house in a quiet neighborhood of Amesbury in the county of Wiltshire, just 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Salisbury, where the Skripals were poisoned.

Police said they suspected that the two were exposed to the nerve agent through a contaminated item left over from the first attack, which the UK has blamed Russia for.

Moscow has denied the claims. The UK's allegations resulted in tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions.

Read more: Opinion: Dealing with Russia, Theresa May finds herself alone at home

Experts at the nearby Porton Down military laboratory are so far not certain if the nerve agent came from the "same batch that the Skripals were exposed to," according to the Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner of specialist operations, Neil Basu. </s> LONDON — British police declared a major incident Wednesday after a man and a woman were exposed to an unknown substance close to the city of Salisbury, where a Russian former spy and his daughter were poisoned with nerve agent four months ago.

Emergency services were called to the town of Amesbury in Wiltshire county in southern England, after the pair, both in their 40s, were found unconscious in a property Saturday evening.

“They are both currently receiving treatment for suspected exposure to an unknown substance at Salisbury District Hospital. They are both in a critical condition,” Wiltshire Police said in a statement.

Police said the two were initially thought to have used heroin or crack cocaine from a contaminated batch of drugs, but that more testing was now being carried out to determine the nature of the substance.

British tabloid newspaper The Sun reported that the two were poisoned and that samples were sent to Porton Down, the nearby government laboratory, for testing.

The Sun reported that security chiefs fear that they could have been poisoned with same batch of Soviet-developed nerve agent used on Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who were found unresponsive on a bench about 10 miles away in Salisbury on March 4.

More: Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal discharged from hospital after poisoning

London’s Metropolitan Police Service said that counterterrorism officers were working with local police on the investigation, “given the recent events in Salisbury."

The places the Amesbury pair — whose identities weren’t immediately released — frequented before they became ill have been cordoned off in Amesbury and Salisbury as a precaution and police patrols have increased. The Sun reported that they are not known to have any links to Russia or security services.

Public health officials said there is not believed to be a significant health risk to the public, but this “will be continually assessed as further information becomes known.”

More: Who is Sergei Skripal? Russian spy found unconscious in English park sparks intrigue

Britain says the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok nerve agent and blames Russia. The Kremlin denies any responsibility. Sergei Skripal was jailed in Russia in 2006 for passing state secrets to Britain. He was released as part of a spy swap in 2010 and moved to Salisbury.

That poisoning incident has soured relations between Russia and many British allies including the expulsion of hundreds of diplomats on both sides.

Yulia was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital in April and her father was discharged from the same hospital in May. Both were taken to an undisclosed location for their protection. </s> Police officers guard outside a branch of Boots pharmacy, which has been cordoned off after two people were hospitalised and police declared a 'major incident', in Amesbury Thomson Reuters

AMESBURY, England (Reuters) - Britain's counter-terrorism chief said on Wednesday that two people who are critically ill in hospital in Wiltshire were exposed to the Novichok nerve agent, the same toxin that was used in an attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

The man and woman, both British, were found unwell at a house in Amesbury on Saturday, close to Salisbury where Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with nerve agent in March. </s> Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

Two Russian nationals have been named as suspects in connection with the Salisbury poisonings in England.

There is sufficient evidence to charge Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Novichok attack on ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service have said.

Neil Basu, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said it is likely the suspects were travelling under aliases and Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names. The pair are believed to be aged around 40.

The announcement will deepen the rift between Britain and Russia after the nerve agent attack sparked a wave of diplomatic expulsions by the UK and its allies.

British authorities are understood to believe several Russians were involved in the attempted murders, which also led to 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess becoming an indirect casualty of the poisoning.

A small amount of Novichok is thought to have been used in liquid form to target the Skripals in March.

In July, a source with knowledge of the investigation claimed two suspects had been identified and had left Britain after the attack.

It is understood the suspected perpetrators were identified through CCTV footage that was cross-checked with border entry data.

The UK Government has insisted it is "highly likely" Russia was behind the attack, but Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Ms Sturgess died in July, with authorities believing she and boyfriend Charlie Rowley picked up a discarded vial containing the substance. The pair fell ill on June 30 in Amesbury, near Salisbury. Mr Rowley remains seriously ill in hospital. Police believe it is linked to the poisoning of the Skripals, who were discovered slumped on a bench on March 4 and have since been discharged from hospital.

Independent investigators have confirmed the nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the same toxic chemical that killed Dawn Sturgess three months later.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) said it had confirmed the UK's findings, which concluded in July the substance used in Amesbury was Novichok.

Ms Sturgess, a mother of three, died eight days later having never regained consciousness. It is believed they were exposed to a military grade nerve agent from a perfume bottle discarded by those responsible for the attack on the Skripals.

The OPCW said: "The results of the analysis by the OPCW-designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that intoxicated two individuals in Amesbury and resulted in one fatality.

"The toxic chemical compound displays the same toxic properties of a nerve agent.

"It is also the same toxic chemical that was found in the biomedical and environmental samples relating to the poisoning of Mr Sergei Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey on March 4 in Salisbury."

Six months on from the attack in Salisbury, Russia has reiterated its belief that the UK is flouting international law by apparently keeping the pair from having contact with embassy officials.

A statement released by the Russian Embassy referred to the circumstances of the March attack as "obscure" and accused British authorities of keeping the Skripals in isolation ever since their release from hospital.

It said: "They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement." </s> Police in the United Kingdom have ruled out the possibility that two people who fell ill after eating at a restaurant in Salisbury had been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok.

Wiltshire police declared a "major incident" on Sunday evening after it came to light that a man and woman had become unwell at a Prezzo restaurant, six months after a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Julia became the victims of Novichok poisoning in the same city.

"Due to recent events in the city and concerns that the pair had been exposed to an unknown substance, a highly precautionary approach was taken by all emergency services," police said in a statement.

"We can now confirm that there is nothing to suggest that Novichok is the substance," added the statement.

The pair were taken to Salisbury District Hospital, police said.

Police said it was "not yet clear" if a crime had been committed and that inquiries remained ongoing.

Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in March with Novichok, a nerve agent fabricated in Russia, and have since recovered after spending weeks hospitalized.

Weeks later in the nearby town of Amesbury, a British woman called Dawn Sturgess died having become ill after handling a bottle of perfume that contained Novichok.

Her partner, Charlie Rowley, also became ill but managed to make a recovery.

The UK has said Russia is behind the Novichok attack on the Skripals and accused two Russian citizens identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov of poisoning the ex-spy and his daughter. </s> LONDON — Two people found unconscious in southern England on Saturday were exposed to the same nerve agent used to attack an ex-Russian spy in March, London Metropolitan Police said Wednesday.

The pair remain in critical condition in Salisbury District Hospital, the same hospital where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were treated after they were exposed to Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent. The UK government suspects the Skripals were victims of a Russian attack.

The UK’s National Counter Terrorism Policing Network is leading the investigation. Officers are investigating the possibility of a connection between the two attacks, said Neil Basu, Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism at London Metropolitan Police. But no evidence so far suggests the couple was specifically targeted, he said.

“I don’t have any intelligence or evidence that they were targeted in any way. There is nothing in their background to suggest that at all,” Basu said.

“We are not in a position to say whether the nerve agent was from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to. The possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of inquiry for us.”

What we know about the victims

Paramedics were called to an address on Muggleton Road in Amesbury the morning of June 30 after a woman collapsed at the property, Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills told reporters earlier Wednesday. They were called back later the same day after reports that a man became ill in the same location, he said.

British news agencies identified the two people as Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44. Sam Hobson, a friend of the pair, confirmed their names in an interview with Agence France-Presse. The two victims are British nationals local to the area, according to police in Wiltshire, the county in which Amesbury is located.

Wiltshire Police said they were initially believed to have fallen ill after using crack cocaine or heroin from a contaminated batch. On Monday, due to concerns over their symptoms, samples from both patients were sent to a laboratory for analysis.

“Following the detailed analysis of these samples, 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 both Yulia and Sergei Skripal,” Basu said.

“I do want to reassure the public, however, that there is no evidence that either the man or woman recently visited any of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal,” he said.

Authorities have cordoned off several sites in Amesbury and Salisbury that the couple is believed to have visited before they fell ill, Basu said. He warned of an increased police presence in the area, which will include officers wearing protective equipment, similar to the activity earlier this year in the Skripal investigation.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard called the increased police presence a “proportionate response to an investigation of this nature and scale.”

“I fully appreciate the effect the cordons will have on local people and businesses,” he said in a statement. “Please let me reassure you that my officers and staff, partner agencies and our colleagues at the Counter Terrorism Policing network will do all we can to progress this investigation and help return the communities of Amesbury and Salisbury back to normality.”

Affected sites include Amesbury Baptist Church, which had police standing guard at the entrance on Tuesday. Church secretary Ray Collins told CNN he believed the victims attended a family fun day at the church on Saturday, though he did not know who the pair were. A Boots pharmacy in Amesbury was cordoned off, along with the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, the John Baker House in Salisbury, a supported living facility, and the Muggleton Road property in Amesbury, according to Wilshire Police.

As a “highly precautionary measure,” Public Health England South West advised anyone who had visited those sites from 10 p.m. on June 29th to 6:30 p.m. on June 30 to do the following:

– Wash the clothing they were wearing in an ordinary washing machine just as they would any other items.

– Wipe personal items such as phones, handbags and other electronic items with cleansing or baby wipes and dispose of the wipes in an ordinary domestic waste disposal.

– Hand wash with warm water and detergent any items that cannot go in the washing machine or be cleaned with wipes, such as jewelery and accessories, and rinse with clean cold water.

Salisbury District Hospital is open as usual and is advising people still to attend routine appointments unless they are contacted to state otherwise.

“Our current advice, based on the small number of casualties affected, is that there is no significant health risk to the wider public. We will keep this assessment under constant review as further information becomes known,” said Mike Wade, Deputy Director of Health Protection for PHE South West.

Authorities believe that Sergei and Yulia Skripal first came into contact with Novichok at Sergei’s home. They were later found slumped over on a bench at an outdoor shopping complex in Salisbury.

The incident in Salisbury sparked a diplomatic dispute between the UK and Russia after British investigators blamed Moscow for the attack.

Russia has denied the allegations, but more than 20 other countries kicked Russian diplomats out of their countries in a show of support for the UK.

The two have since been discharged from the hospital. </s> British investigators have descended upon a small English town to find out how two apparently random individuals were exposed to the same Soviet-era nerve agent that nearly killed a former Russian double agent and his daughter earlier this year.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday night that a couple, identified in British media as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were being treated for exposure to Novichok, a highly toxic nerve agent first developed in secret by the Soviet Union.

The pair remain in critical condition after being rushed on Saturday to Salisbury District Hospital, the same hospital that treated former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia who were poisoned in March.

Police say they don’t believe that Rowley and Sturgess were deliberately targeted — unlike the Skripals, who British authorities suspect were the victims of a Russian plot.

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid will chair an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the incident. Prime Minister Theresa May has been updated on the situation, her office told CNN.

UK Security Minister Ben Wallace said Thursday in a BBC interview that the British government would find out who was responsible for the latest nerve agent poisonings and what exactly happened in Wiltshire “no matter how long it takes.”

Rowley and Sturgess live in Amesbury, a town of fewer than 10,000 people about 20 minutes’ drive from Salisbury where the Skripals were poisoned.

Authorities did not name the two but described them as British nationals local to the area.

Paramedics were called to an address on Muggleton Road, Amesbury, at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, after a woman, later identified as Sturgess, collapsed, according to Neil Basu, the assistant commissioner for counter terrorism at the London Metropolitan Police.

They were called back later the same day when the man, now known to be Rowley, had also fallen ill.

The couple made a round trip to Salisbury from nearby Amesbury on Friday, according to family and friends who spoke to British media. Authorities said while they were in Salisbury they didn’t visit any of the sites that were decontaminated in connection to the Skripal case.

Doctors initially thought they’d been exposed to a batch of contaminated cocaine or heroin. However, concerns over their symptoms prompted medical officials to look at Novichok as a serious possibility.

Basu said authorities received test results Wednesday evening that confirmed the couple had been exposed to Novichok.

Residents told CNN they were very concerned by the news, coming only weeks after the poisoning of the Skripals and subsequent cleanup by the authorities.

“It is quite scary and very worrying as well. To know it is still about,” said Paula Bull, a mother of six. “This is no place for my kids to grow up, it’s really worrying. I’m going to be more cautious.”

Another Salisbury resident, who gave her name only as Susan, said she was “really angry” with the authorities for not living up to their promise to clean up the area after the Skripal case.

“The only place I ever saw getting cleared was the bench where Sergei Skripal was found,” she said. “We don’t need this sort of thing, it’s very quiet lovely beautiful area, and to have chemicals like that around — you just can’t have it. There are too many elderly and too many children.”

What’s the connection to the Skripal case?

Beyond the fact that all four individuals were exposed to the same nerve agent, it’s not clear if there’s any connection between the cases.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury in March. Authorities believed they were exposed to Novichok at Sergei Skripal’s home. Both were admitted in critical condition and spent weeks in the hospital before they were discharged.

The March incident in Salisbury sparked a diplomatic dispute between the UK and Russia after British investigators and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) blamed Moscow for the attack.

Russia has denied the allegations, but that did not stop more than 20 other countries from expelling Russian diplomats in a show of support for the UK.

Rowley and Sturgess, however, do not appear to have a relationship with Moscow.

Authorities said there was no evidence that the two were specifically targeted. They’ve been described as normal, local residents with no ties to Russia.

Basu said police were not in a position to say whether Rowley and Sturgess were exposed to the same batch of Novichok as the Skripals were. He added that authorities were looking into whether the two investigations were linked.

Wallace, the Security Minister, told BBC Radio 4 that Russia could help by giving Britain all of the information it has on the nerve agent and the attack on the Skripals.

“The Russian state could put this wrong right. They could tell us what happened, what they did,” Wallace said, adding that one day “the world will know that Russia had a chance to right that wrong and protect the people of Salisbury and they choose not to take it.”

Speaking to Britain’s Sky News, he reiterated the belief that the Amesbury pair “weren’t linked” to the poisoning of the Skripals but admitted authorities “don’t know the full picture of what happened.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the United Kingdom had provided no proof of Russian involvement in the attack on the Skripals. “You know that from the very beginning of the Salisbury case, Russia categorically denied and continues to deny the possibility of any involvement,” he said.

Asked by CNN to comment on Wallace’s remarks, Peskov said: “The UK security minister knows that Russia proposed to have a joint investigation. This proposal is on the agenda and was made long ago. Unfortunately, the British side isn’t interested in it.”

Hours earlier, the Russian embassy in the Netherlands said Britain was “dumb” if it believed Russia was behind the latest poisoning.

“How dumb they think Russia is to use ‘again’ so-called ‘Novichok’ in the middle of the FIFA World Cup and after the special session of the CSP (convened by the way by Britain) that gave the #OPCW attribution functions. The show must go on?” the embassy tweeted. The CSP refers to the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, held by the OPCW.

Britain has not accused Russia of deliberately targeting the latest victims.

What are authorities doing?

The priority for investigators, according to Basu, is to establish how Rowley and Sturgess came into contact with Novichok.

Police have cordoned off a number of sites the two visited before they fell ill as a precautionary measure.

Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills listed five locations that the couple was believed to have visited and were blocked to the public: Amesbury Baptist Church; a Boots pharmacy in Amesbury; Queen Elizabeth Gardens in Salisbury; the John Baker House in Salisbury, a supported living facility; and the property on Muggleton Road.

Authorities did not say when the victims visited each location, but church secretary Ray Collins told CNN he believed the couple attended a family fun day at the church on Saturday, though he did not know who the pair were.

The fun day began at 2 p.m., according to the church’s Facebook event, so it’s possible that only Rowley went.

Nerve agents kill by affecting the nervous system in various ways.

Novichok, which works by causing a slowing of the heart and restriction of the airways, is one of the world’s rarest nerve agents. Very few people outside of Russia have experience with it.

It was first developed in secret by the Soviet Union during the Cold War in the 1980s, as a means of countering US chemical weapons defenses but was revealed to the world by former Soviet scientist and whistle-blower Vil Mirzayanov.

Mirzayanov told CNN that Novichok is up to 10 times as potent as VX, the weapon used to kill Kim Jong Un’s half brother, Kim Jong Nam, in 2017.

“A lethal dose … and the person will die immediately. If [the dosage] is less, [the person] will go through very tortuous scenes. They will start convulsions, and stop breathing and then lose vision, and there are other problems — vomiting, everything. It’s a terrible scene,” Mirzayanov told CNN.
Police determine two British nationals found unconscious at a property in Amesbury, Wiltshire, on Saturday were poisoned using Novichok nerve agent of the same kind used in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, seven miles from Amesbury, almost four months ago.