Suspect taken into custody for ‘sending a deadly poison RICIN package to Donald Trump’

A suspect has been taken into custody for allegedly sending a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to Donald Trump in a package addressed to the White House. 

The unidentified individual was arrested by Customs and Border Protection agents trying to enter the US from Canada, a federal law enforcement official told NBC News Sunday. 

No further details about the suspect such as age, name or gender have been confirmed at this time.

However an official told the New York Times on Saturday that authorities were seeking a Canadian woman in connection to the deadly packages.  

The suspicious letter addressed to the president was intercepted by law enforcement earlier this week, the FBI revealed Saturday. 

All packages addressed to the White House are sorted and screened at a secure offsite facility prior to delivery. 

The envelope to the White House was caught at the final offsite processing facility where mail is screened before being sent to the White House mail room. 

Lab tests confirmed the presence of ricin – which is deadly if inhaled – in the letter and an FBI investigation was launched to locate the sender.  

‘The F.B.I. and our U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service partners are investigating a suspicious letter received at a U.S. government mail facility,’ the FBI said in a statement Saturday. 

‘At this time, there is no known threat to public safety.’   

Law enforcement sources Saturday said they believed the package had been sent from Canada.  

The suspect also allegedly sent other poison packages to a detention facility and a sheriff’s office in Texas.  

Only one package was said to be aimed at a political figure.  

It is not clear when any of the packages were sent or who the recipients of the other packages were. 

There is also no indication yet that the poison packages are linked to any international terrorist organizations. 

Ricin is a highly potent toxin derived from castor beans, and is extremely lethal if inhaled or injected, but less so if ingested. 

Inhaling a dose the size of a few grains of salt can be lethal to adults. 

Deadly ricin has previously been used to target American politicians through the mail.

In 2014, actress Shannon Richardson, who appeared on The Walking Dead, was convicted of sending envelopes containing ricin addressed to then President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

She was sentenced to 18 years in prison. 

Ricin was also featured in a multi-season plot arc in the television series Breaking Bad, which inspired several real-life criminal schemes involving the poison.

In 2014, Georgetown University student Daniel Milzman pleaded guilty to a federal charge after a bag of ricin was found in his dorm room. 

Prosecutors say he had planned to use it on another student he had formerly been in a relationship with. He was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.