DURHAM, England, June 6 (UPI) -- A truck driver and his son were detained Friday after police said they found the deadly poison ricin in a jam jar in their home in northern England.

Ian Davidson, 41, of Burnopfield in County Durham and his son, Nicky, 18, were held under the Terrorism Act, The Daily Mail reported. The house was raided in the early morning by police investigating allegations of a white supremacist plot.


Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is among the deadliest poisons. It was used in 1978 to kill Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian refugee, who was attacked in London by Bulgarian agents using a pellet gun concealed in an umbrella.

Assistant Chief Constable for Durham Mike Barton said investigators were surprised to find the ricin, although they expected weapons of some sort.

"We believe the people involved to be white supremacist extremists and one of our lines of inquiry was that they were going to target people from ethnic minorities," he said. "White supremacists seem to hate an awful lot of people."