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Speaker 1: Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and

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death spy stories and the amazing devices and operations that

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made them possible. Now let's get started.

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Speaker 2: Have you ever heard of the man by the name

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of Georgi Markov? Well, if you haven't, you will now.

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This is the story of the poison tipped umbrella and

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the death of Georgi Markov. In nineteen seventy eight, a

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post mortem examination was held to determine who killed a

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Bulgarian playwright who defected to the West. In nineteen sixty nine,

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Georgie Markov, aged forty nine, died in a London hospital

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of septasimia, a form of blood poisoning. Before he died,

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he claimed he had been stabbed with an umbrella by

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a stranger who bumped into him in the strand. Mister

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Markov was on his way from work with the BBC

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Bulgarian Service at bush House. Mister Peter Franco, the head

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of the BBC Eastern Europeans, described Markov as an outstanding

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broadcaster and writer. He had heard about mister Markoff's fears

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he had been stabbed, but added that the broadcaster had

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been in poor health and had kidney trouble. A puncture

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mark was found on mister Markov's thigh, but the fact

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that his death did not lead to a post mortal

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examination immediately may mean that police are skeptical about mister

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Markov's known fears of the Bulgarian secret agents, so they

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wondered was he just paranoid or not? Well, we're going

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to learn a little bit more about that. See Markov

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use forums to conduct the campaign of sarcastic criticism against

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the incumbent Bulgarian regime, which, according to his wife at

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the time he died, he eventually became vitriolic and including

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really smearing mud on the people in the inner circles.

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So was he killed or not? Never seventh, nineteen seventy eight. Again,

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as we mentioned, he walked across Waterloo Bridge, spanning the

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River Times in England, writing to wait to take a

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bus to his job at the BBC. While at the

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bus stop, he felt a slight, sharp pain, as a

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bug or a bite or a sting on the back

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of his right thigh. He looked behind him and saw

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a man picking up an umbrella off the ground. The

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man quickly crossed to the other side of the street

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and guy in a taxi and then drove away. Some

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have called this the umbrella murder. When he arrived at

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work at the BBC World Service Offices, Markov noticed a

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small red piple had formed the side of the sting

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he had felt earlier, and the pain did not stop.

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He told at least one of his colleagues at the

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BBC about the incident. That evening, he developed a fever

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and was admitted to Saint James's Hospital in Balham, where

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he died four days later on September eleventh, nineteen seventy eight.

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The cause of the death was poisoning from a rice

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and filled pellet. Later investigation, due to the circumstances and

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statements Markoff made, doctors expressing the suspicion he had been

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poison really didn't do much. But the police didn't do much,

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but they order to throw an autopsy. Eventually, doctor Bernard

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Riley of Forensic Pathologists discovered a spherical's metal pellet the

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size of a pen head embedded in Markov's leg. You

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see that little tiny pellet was placed in the tip

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of that umbrella. The pellet measured about point point seven

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zero millimeters in diameter. And was composed of ninety percent

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platinum and ten percent iridium. It had two holes with

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diameters of about zero point three to five millimeters drilled

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through it, producing an X shaped cavity. Further examination by

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experts from Porting Down show let the pellet contained traces

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of the toxin ricin. A sugary substance coated the tiny holes,

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creating a bubble that trapped the rice in inside the cavities.

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Let's go ahead and take a quick look at risin,

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which is a highly potent toxin producing the seeds of

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the castor oil plant. A dose of purified rice and

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powder the sides of a few grains. Listen to this

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of table salt. Just a few grains of table salt

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can kill an adult. The medium lethal dose of risin

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for mice is around twenty two micrograms per kurlogram of

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body weight. Oil exposure to risin is far less toxic,

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Oddly enough, and estimated oil dose in humans is approximately

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one milligram per kilogram of body weight. There's a little

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bit of an idea of tyson of risin. I'm sorry,

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tyson ricin that was used in killing Markoff. Now it

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has been used before the US investigated risin for its

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military potential during World War One. At that time, it

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was being considered for use either as a toxic dust

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or as a coating for bullets and shrapnel. The dust

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cloud concept could not be adequately developed in the coated

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bullet trapnel concept would violate the heg the Hog Convention

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of A ninety nine, which just says it is especially

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prohibited to employ poison or poisoned arms. World War One

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ended before the United States ever weaponized risin. During World

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War Two, the US and Canada undertook studying rising again

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for cluster bombs. Though there were plants for mass production

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at sever field trials with different bomb let concepts, the

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end conclusion was that it was no more economical than

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using phost gene. FoST gene was a colorless gas. This

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odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass, but

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it can also be very dangerous as well. So let's

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go back to our story of markof and see what's

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up happening with him. Especially crafted coating was designed to

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melt at ninety nine degrees fahrenheit, the human body temperature.

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That's how they coded this little pellet. After the pell

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was shot into Markoff, the coating melted and the ricin

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was free to be absorbed into the bloodstream and kill them,

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regardless of whether the doctor's treating Markov had known that

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the problem poison was rice, and the result would have

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been the same, as there was no known antidote to

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rison at the time. Ten days before the murder, and

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attempt was made to kill another Bulgarian defector, Vladimir Costaff,

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in the same manner in a Paris metro station, KGB

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defector Oleg Khalugan confirmed that the KGB arranged the murder,

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even presenting the Bulgarian assassin with alternatives such as poisonous

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jelly de smear and Markov's skin, but to date, no

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one has been charged with Markov's murder, largely because most

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documents relating to it are unavailable or even properly destroyed.

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The prime suspect, according to a British newspaper, is an

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Italian named Francesco Giuliano. He was last known to be

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living in Denmark. A British documentary called The Umbrella Assassin

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interviewed people associated with the case in Bulgaria, Britain, Denmark

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and revealed that the prime suspect was Francesco, who is

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alive and well and still traveling freely throughout Europe. There

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were reports in June two thousand and eight that Scotland

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Yard had renewed his interests in the case. Detectives were

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sent to Bulgarian requests were made to relevant individuals. In

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twenty eighteen, the case was the subject of the BBC

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radio program The Reunion. Oddly enough, in twenty twelve, a

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German Man not named died almost a year after being

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stabbed with an umbrella in the city of Hanover. German police,

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who noted a resemblance to the mark Off case, believe

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the umbrella was used to inject mercury, and the reported

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cause of death was mercury poisoning. Thanks for listening, everybody,