![]() There were several chat messages regarding secure email providers before the buyer provided his secure email address – The seller sent a code word: “Marie Curie” – fittingly the Polish pioneer of radioactivity research – to be used to identify communications between the two. Every dose would cost $500, but a lower price could be arranged for repeat business, said the seller, asking for a week to prepare the Polonium 210 in his laboratory. The seller replied that five people dropping dead with alpha radiation poisoning would cause suspicion and that it would be better if just one dose was sent to start off with. In another exchange of messages between 10 and 24 June 2019, the buyer said he needed five doses “for now, but would definitely need more”. ![]() The seller asked for the height and weight of the intended victims and was told that these were required to calculate a fatal dose. The two corresponded for some weeks, with the buyer being reassured that the substance was odourless and could not be tasted. “The seller also said that nobody would suspect Polonium 210 because it only emits alpha radiation,” said Cremona, adding that the seller had told the buyer that it would cause death by pneumonia within two weeks. The same substance was used to kill Russian defector and former FSB agent Alexander Litvinienko in 2006. Polonium 210 is a radioactive substance which is harmless outside the body but lethal if ingested, causing excruciating death by radiation sickness. It was later agreed that the seller and buyer were to continue their discussions on a PGP (pretty good privacy) encrypted chat, using the codeword ALPHA to confirm the buyer’s identity. Using the handle “MONIKER 2F108X” on a dark web site called “Berlusconi”, the suspect had asked where the products would be shipped from and had been told that they would be hidden in small packets of “for example Bluetooth speakers”, to avoid being picked up by radiation scanners. He was also wanted for questioning in relation to an 18kg cannabis haul ![]() In 2013, police searched his Gżira residence and found four 7.62mm x 39mm rounds – the right size for AK-47s – as well as a pill-making machine. He once was arrested in Taormina, Sicily and made it onto the radar of Maltese financial authorities. Calleja, who would often go by the pseudonyms of Jomic Grech or Micheal Luciano, had been charged with a slew of offences in the past. These details were revealed as the buyer, who went by pseudonyms which included ‘unknown 893’ user ‘2F108X’‘2 and Foxtrot108XRAY’ was asked by the seller what dose of polonium 210 he required.Ĭalleja, 34, was arrested by the anti-terrorist unit in March 2020 and charged with attempting to import explosives. Intercepted communications from between 1-8 June that year showed that Calleja’s intended target was a man, who was between 165cm and 175cm tall and weighed around 55-60kg. On 10 June 2019, the police were informed by friendly foreign security services that unknown persons were attempting to buy Polonium 210, Ricin and Fentaynl on the dark web. This emerged from the testimony of Superintendent George Cremona earlier this week, as the case against Calleja continued in court before Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.Ĭremona gave the court a detailed timeline of events between June 10 and 29 August 2019, months before Calleja was arrested in March this year on suspicion of illegally importing explosives. ![]() A mercury switch, also known as a tilt-switch often used in car bombs, was one of the items allegedly ordered from a US vendor on the dark web by Jomic Calleja.
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