Ricin secret police: Georgi Markov had defected from Bulgaria some years previously and had subsequently written books and made radio broadcasts that were highly critical of the Bulgarian communist regime. However, it was believed at the time that Bulgaria would not have been able to produce the pellet, and it was also believed that the KGB had supplied it. The KGB denied any involvement, although high-profile KGB defectors Oleg Kalugin and Oleg Gordievsky have since confirmed the KGB's involvement. Earlier, Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn also suffered (but survived) ricin-like symptoms after an encounter in 1971 with KGB agents. Ten days before
Ricin James Mattis, and the other to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson. Ricin has often been used as a plot device, such as in the television series "Breaking Bad" (Season 2, Season 4 and Season 5). Ricin pellets were also used as the murder weapon in the "NCIS Season 7 Episode 21 – Obsession" The popularity of "Breaking Bad" inspired several real-life criminal cases involving ricin or similar substances. Kuntal Patel from London attempted to poison her "controlling and selfish" mother with abrin after the latter interfered with her marriage plans. Daniel Milzman, a 19-year-old former Georgetown University student,