The FBI arrested a Mississippi man on Wednesday in connection with letters sent to President Barack Obama and two other officials that are believed to have contained the deadly poison ricin, the US Justice Department said.
Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested at his home in Corinth, Mississippi, and is "believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the US Postal Inspection Service which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin," the Justice Department said in a statement.
The letters were addressed to a US senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official, the statement said. The FBI said the envelope sent to Obama was received at a mail-screening facility outside the White House and was immediately quarantined. Preliminary tests showed it contained the deadly poison ricin, the FBI said.