Markov, Georgi

Maddison, Ronald, 178 malaria, 167 Malaya, 100, 191, 191 Manhattan Project, 81, 101 Marburg fever, 119 Markov, Georgi, 197—8 Marshal, George C, 114 Martin, Trevor, 181 Masuda, Colonel Tomosada, 7 e McDonald, Larry, 117 ... 

Several countries have stockpiled a limited number of toxins. Their use on the battlefield has been alleged (e.g., Laos, Kampuchea, and Afghanistan) but not documented to the extent that it is universally accepted. Toxins have been used for political assassinations (e.g., 1978 murder of Georgi Markov with ricin) and terrorists have threatened the use of toxins, usually through contamination of food or water supplies. 

Edwards, R. (2008) Poison-tip umbrella assassination of Georgi Markov reinvestigated. http //www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2158765/Poison-tip-umbrella-assassination-of-Georgi-Markov-reinvestigated.html (accessed November 28,2009). 

PAG] -S-S-B [—30 kDa defector Georgi Markov GAAL (ssDNA) PSI galactose-... 

B [34 kDa glycoprotein Georgi Markov murdered in depurination cleavage PSI ... 

Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian writer who lived in his home country until 1969, when at the age of 40 he defected to the West. Living in London, he worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, Radio Free Europe, and the German Deutsche Welle. 

Crompton R and Gall D (1980). Georgi Markov -death in a pellet. Med Legal J, 48, 51-62. 

Quoted in BBC Television s Panorama, Who Killed Georgi Markov , 9 September 1979. 

On 7 September 1978 an exiled Bulgarian writer drove from his suburban home to the huge central London office block which houses the B B C overseas radio services. Before his defection in 1969, Georgi Markov had been a member of the privileged literary elite of Bulgarian society, a popular writer whose work had won him the friendship and confidence of senior members of the Politburo. Now he regularly broadcast commentaries on Bulgarian life back to his native land from the studios of the BBC and Radio Free Europe. 

This prevented investigators from establishing the type of substance that had been used, but it was sufficient to determine that Markov had not died of natural causes. BATS (British Anti-Terrorist Squad), detectives then joined the Scotland Yard investigating team. After weeks of research and experimentation, in January 1979, a Coroner s Inquest in London Gavin Thurston ruled that Georgi Markov had been killed via ricin toxin. Traces of ricin were possibly found later thereupon. 

Cummings R H (1996). Code Name Piccadilly—The Murder of Georgi Markov. Balkan Info. Available http //www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/news/96-02/feb09. scb. 

Fig. 18-2. A pellet of this type, designed to contain ricin toxin, was used to assassinate Georgi Markov in London and in the attempt on the life of Vladimir Rostov in Paris. The tiny, platinum-iridium pellet—the size of the head of a pin (0.068 in. diameter)—was cross-drilled with 0.016-in. holes in which ricin (or another toxin) could be placed. Reprinted from van Keuren RT. Chemical and Biological Warfare, An Investigative Guide. Washington, DC Office of Enforcement, Strategic Investigations Division, US Customs Service October 1990 90.

In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist who was living in London, died after he was attacked by a man with an umbrella. The umbrella had been rigged to inject a poison ricin pellet under Markov s skin. 

Crompton R, Gall D. 1980. Georgi Markov Death in a pellet. Medico-Legal Journal 48 51-62. 

Military use of ricin as a toxin was considered by both the USA and the Soviet Union, but it was not weaponized. Secret services were less picky Bulgarian agents woimded dissident writer and anti-commrmist critic Georgi Markov with a small ricin-loaded projectile, and the poisoning grew deadly within a few days (—> 4.26). 

George Markov. The Umbrella Assassination available at http //www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group 12/ georgie.htm (accessed February 18, 2009). 

Crompton, R., Gall, D., 1980. Georgi Markov death in a pellet. Med. Leg. J. 48,51-62. Cullison, A., 2004. Inside al-Qaeda s hard drive. Atlantic Monthly, September. Cullison, A., Higgins, A., 2001. Files found a computer in Kabul yields a chilling array of al Qaeda memos. Wall Street Journal, December 31. 

---