France 2 is reporting frightening news that during a search performed on Monday by the Police, traces of ricin and other "highly toxic" chemicals were found in a locker at the Paris Gare de Lyon train station. Those searches are apparently a normal procedure under the Vigipirate plan, and this answers the silly question I was asking myself earlier today.
Ricin, the most toxic toxin from the vegetal world, is a violent poison against which there is no known treatment, preventive or antidotal. It is one of the lethal agents listed on Biotox, a public information plan from the French Ministère de la Santé about sanitary consequences of terrorism acts.
French and U.K. authorities are concerned about a terrorist use of this toxin. On January 5th, the British Police found ricin in a flat in Wood Green and subsequently arrested seven people after an impromptu raid at the mosque of Finsbury Park, north of London.
[Update] The Beeb is reporting on this news.