Dark Harvest Commando

The Dark Harvest Commando of the Scottish Citizen Army was a militant group which in 1981 demanded that the British government decontaminate Gruinard Island, a site which had been used for anthrax weapon testing during World War II, by distributing potentially anthrax-laden soil on the mainland.[1][2]

The group placed a container of soil outside the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down in Wiltshire.[3] A second container of soil was placed at Blackpool, a resort town where the Conservative Party was holding a conference. The first package was found to contain Bacillus anthracis (the causative agent of anthrax), while the second was uncontaminated, but of the same soil type as found on the island.[4]

One news source claimed that a resurgent DHC (possibly affiliated with the Scottish National Liberation Army) collected spores from Gruinard Island for an attack on Prince William in December 2001.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Carn. Celtic League. 1987. p. 3.
  2. ↑ Curtis E. Cummings; Elisaveta Stikova (1 January 2007). Strengthening National Public Health Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agent Threats. IOS Press. pp. 55–. ISBN 978-1-58603-744-4.
  3. ↑ Weapons of Mass Destruction. ABC-CLIO. pp. 146–. ISBN 978-1-85109-490-5.
  4. ↑ "Biological Warfare: Dark Harvest". Time. 9 November 1981.
  5. ↑ Nick Drainey SNLA Threats and Attacks The Scotsman. 4 Mar 2002.

Further reading

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