MET POLICE DETECTIVES investigating the Salisbury and Amesbury nerve agent incidents have released moving footage of the two suspects as they continue to appeal for information.
British security services in September named Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov as suspects in the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia using a nerve agent called Novichok, but said these were likely to be aliases.
British prosecutors charged both with the nerve agent poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Subsequently, two residents of the nearby town of Amesbury, Charlie Rowley and his partner Dawn Sturgess, were taken ill, with Sturgess later dying.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.
CCTV footage
CCTV footage of the two suspects shows them as they arrive and travel around Salisbury on 4 March.
The first CCTV clip shows the two suspects as they arrive at Salisbury train station on Sunday 4 March at around 11.48am.
The second clip shows the suspects at approximately 11.58am walking past a petrol station in Wilton Road, which is in the vicinity of the Skripals’ home address. This is just prior to when detectives believe the nerve agent was placed on the door handle.
The third clip shows the two men walking over a bridge on Fisherton Street at approximately 1pm, before they eventually return to Salisbury train station and travel back to Heathrow and catch a flight to Moscow later that night.
Counterfeit perfume
Images of a specially made model of the counterfeit perfume bottle are also being issued as detectives from the Counter Terrorism Policing Network continue with their investigation.
“Since we, alongside the CPS, announced details of the two suspects in September, our investigation has continued at pace,” deputy assistant commissioner Dean Haydon said.
We remain as determined as ever to identify and bring to justice all those responsible for the reckless acts that left four people critically ill and saw Dawn Sturgess lose her life.
Officers are still appealing to anyone who may have seen either of the two men in the UK between 2 and 4 March, or anyone who may have seen the counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume box or bottle that was eventually recovered from Charlie Rowley’s address in July, to come forward.
“We are progressing a number of active lines of enquiry but one of the key things we are still trying to identify is where the counterfeit perfume bottle was between the time we think it was discarded on the afternoon of 4 March, to when Charlie Rowley says he found it on 27 June,” Haydon said.
If you think you saw the pink box or bottle anywhere in the Salisbury area during that time, then please get in touch with us.
The Met Police has noted that, despite meticulous and painstaking searches, and although unlikely, it is impossible to guarantee that there are no other materials present in the Salisbury area.
As such, Met Police is continuing to repeat the advice from Public Health England – that people should not pick up items which do not belong to them.
Anyone with information can call Met Police in confidence on 0800 789 321 or email salisbury2018@met.police.uk.
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With reporting by Cianan Brennan
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