Terrorism Task Force Investigates Dead Foreigner With Cyanide – With Video
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Okay, call me paranoid, but this guy has no passport. He is not an American citizen. But somehow we know he came into this country through Canada. He is in Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention in two weeks.He is dead. Not from Cyanide Poisoning, so they say.
Dude…
DENVER (CBS4) ― It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide.
Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.
A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man’s room on the fourth floor of The Burnsley hotel at 10th and Grant.
Tests are now being done by the Denver Police Crime Lab to determine exactly what the substance is. The tests could take days.
It’s believed Dirie died from something other than the substance that was in the container.
Denver police are leading the investigation of the man’s death. The FBI and other governmental agencies, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force, are assisting in the probe. Hazardous materials assistance has included the Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado National Guard.
“Our Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in this simply because the victim here is from another country and it just kind of makes sense that our terrorism guys would take a look a look at this,” FBI Special Agent in Charge James Davis said.
Davis told CBS 4 that nothing so far has been found to link the case to terrorism or the coming convention.
Authorities said The Burnsley hotel is safe and is open for business.
Cyanide can be made from plants in very small amounts. It can be a gas, liquid or powder. It prevents the body from using oxygen and therefore is more harmful to the heart and brain than other organs.
“It was used in concentration camps in World War II and by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds in the 1990s,” CBD4 Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida said. “And put it in a little capsule, it is in fact used as a suicide pill just like you see in the movies.”
Officials said cyanide can be used as a terrorist weapon if it is dumped in water put in food, sprayed as a gas, or many other methods.
The investigation is continuing.
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