The teenager suspected of stabbing three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England has been charged with creating the lethal toxin ricin and is now facing a terror charge for possessing a terrorist training handbook, police said on Tuesday.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who is accused of murdering three girls and stabbing ten others in July, created the deadly poison ricin, which was later discovered in his home, according to Merseyside Police. Police also discovered a computer file containing an Al-Qaida training handbook titled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual.”
Rudakubana faces new charges for allegedly producing ricin, a biological toxin that violates a law prohibiting biological weapons in the United Kingdom, and for “possessing information, namely a pdf file… of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,” according to police.
The last charge is illegal under the terms of a UK terrorism law. Ricin, derived from the castor bean plant, is one of the world’s most deadly toxins. It has no known vaccination or antidote and kills cells by inhibiting protein production.
Police emphasised that the July attack was not classified as a “terrorist incident,” which would require a motive to be identified.
Rudakubana, who police said was born in Wales, was already charged with three charges of murder in the July killings of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the coastal resort of Southport in northwest England.
He has also been charged with ten counts of attempted murder in connection with the injuries to eight youngsters and two adults.
Far-right groups used the stabbings to incite hatred for immigrants and Muslims after misinformation spread on social media identifying him as an asylum seeker and misreporting his name.
Violence erupted in Southport, sparking a week-long riot across England and Northern Ireland. Chief Constable Serena Kennedy issued a statement on Tuesday urging the public not to speculate about the matter.
“Don’t believe everything you read on social media,” Kennedy said. “We must not forget about the families of Elsie, Bebe, and Alice, who are still grieving, as well as the relatives of the children and adults injured and touched by what happened that day.
We must all do the right thing by them to guarantee that the judicial system is not skewed.”
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