Islamic State Ricin Terror Plot Foiled
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On Monday, police in the northwest Indian state of Gujarat revealed the details of what appears to be a foiled Islamic State-inspired bioterrorism plot. In this incident, Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad intercepted a silver hatchback near a highway toll plaza.
In addition to multiple handguns, police recovered 4 kilograms of castor-bean mash—the toxic residue from which ricin, a lethal poison, is extracted.
Ricin is among the world’s deadliest toxins - just milligrams can kill via organ failure, with no antidote; treatment is supportive only.
India produces over 80% of global castor oil, leaving vast quantities of mash as waste.
The driver, Ahmed Saiyed, a 35-year-old Hyderabad-based medical doctor and surgeon trained in China, allegedly planned to weaponize the mash to contaminate food markets in Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow, as well as government offices and a temple.
Classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Category B bioterrorism agent and listed under Schedule 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), ricin is a typical ‘bio-chemical toxin’ well-known for its high toxicity and low technical barrier for crude extraction from castor beans. Regulatory oversight on ricin control remains strict. Under the CWC, it has no legitimate large-scale use outside of research or defense.
Investigations revealed the suspect doctor’s radicalization through Islamic state Khorasan propaganda via a handler in Afghanistan. He converted his home into a ricin lab, sourcing seeds from his former restaurant supply chain. Two accomplices have also been arrested.
This incident marks a rare case of professional radicalization merging medical knowledge with terrorism. The plot echoes past ricin incidents, like 2013 poison-laced letters sent to U.S. President Obama. With castor cultivation dominant in the Gujarat and Rajasthan states, the raw materials are easily accessible. The Anti-Terrorism Squad, backed by India’s intelligence agencies, prevented what could have been India’s first major bioterrorism incident.
Between 1978 and 2025, over 40 ricin-related plots or incidents have been documented worldwide. Although none have yet resulted in mass casualties, ricin’s frequent selection in terror plots underscores its significant psychological impact, symbolic resonance, and relative accessibility—qualities that continue to pose a credible and evolving threat as a potential weapon of mass destruction.
ALERTS LAST THIS WEEK NOT DETAILED IN THIS NEWSLETTER ISSUE
11/11 - 12+ dead, dozens injured in car bomb explosion outside of district court building, G-11 Markaz, Islamabad, Pakistan. US Embassy security alert forthcoming.
11/11 - UK Foreign Office warns citizens against all travel within 10 miles of the Pak / Afghanistan border, and within 5 miles of the Pak / India border. Monitoring..
11/11 - NOAA: G4 (Severe) geomagnetic storm watch in effect for 12 Nov from multiple Earth-directed CMEs. Poss impacts incl key assets tripped from the grid. See email.
How Hamas Is Planning to Deceive the Trump Administration
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute
According to these [Hamas] officials, Hamas only agreed to the first phase of the Trump plan, which calls for Israel to suspend military operations and release Palestinian prisoners, and for Hamas to return all Israeli hostages, dead and alive, within 72 hours. It has been weeks, and Hamas has not yet fulfilled that phase-one obligation.
What about the part in the Trump plan that talks about the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the deployment of an “International Stabilization Force” as a “long-term security solution?”
Hamas insists that these issues are “up for negotiation” but that it never agreed to demilitarization or the presence of international experts and security forces in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan affirmed on November 10 that his group did not accept all the 20 points of Trump’s plan.
By November 12, the terror group had not yet returned the remains of four hostages, although Israel suspended its military activities and released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
By stating that it needs to launch “negotiations and discussions” about the implementation of the rest of Trump’s plan, Hamas is clearly seeking to win as much time as ever to enable it to maintain a grip on the Gaza Strip. As far as Hamas is concerned, the longer the negotiations continue, the better.
The Hamas official dismissed outright the deployment of international forces in the Gaza Strip.
Hamdan also repeated Hamas’s refusal to lay down its weapons in accordance with the Trump plan. The weapons of the Palestinian terror groups, he emphasized, will be handed only to the government of a future Palestinian state after its establishment: “When there’s a Palestinian state capable of protecting its people, it’s natural that the weapons would be handed over to that state. Until then, resistance is a right that we cannot give up. This issue has not been discussed until now with the mediators or with the Americans.”
This statement by the Hamas official contradicts what Witkoff recently said: “Hamas has always indicated they would disarm. They’ve said so – they said it to us directly during that famous meeting that Jared [Kushner] had with them.”
It is crucial to pay attention to what Hamas leaders are telling their people in Arabic.... For Hamas, the Trump plan is nothing but a temporary ceasefire that would enable it to wait out the Trump administration, get back on its feet to rule Gaza again, and resume its Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel.