Ex-Massachusetts biotech firm director allegedly lied to FBI about buying castor beans to extract toxin ricin

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The former researcher director of a Massachusetts biotechnology firm was indicted on a federal charge Tuesday after allegedly purchasing several hundred castor oil plant seeds online, researching how to extract from them the deadly toxin ricin – and then lying to FBI agents saying he just wanted to use them to grow "decorative" house plants.

Dr. Ishtiaq Ali Saaem, 37, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was charged with one count of obstruction of justice, Nathaniel Mendell, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Field Division, announced in a joint statement Tuesday. 

In June 2015, when Saaem held a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, resided in Massachusetts and worked as the director of advanced research at a biotechnology firm, he ordered six lily of the valley plants and 100 packets of castor beans, each containing eight seeds, online, according to the charging document.

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Ricin is a poison that can be extracted from the seeds – or beans -- of the castor oil plant, which can grow in Massachusetts but does not survive the winter, according to the complete charging document obtained by the Boston Globe. A different toxin, convallatoxin, can be extracted from the lily of the valley, a perennial garden plant common in New England.

Saaem, who is originally from Bangladesh, paid $321 for the 800 castor beans, but when questioned at his office a week later by law enforcement, said he meant to purchase just one packet, instead of 100, and planned on growing the plant in his apartment as a decoration, prosecutors alleged.

After his first interview with law enforcement, Saaem allegedly conducted internet searches for tasteless poisons and rat poison and visited a webpage about poison in apple seeds, according to the charging document. He is also accused of visiting webpages with articles headlined, "What is the most lethal poison?" and "The five deadly poisons that can be cooked up in a kitchen," and also searched online for information on poison derived from tomatoes, the charging document says.

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In several subsequent interviews with law enforcement, Saaem reiterated that he only intended to purchase the castor seeds to grow a decorative house plant. Speaking with Pennsylvania law enforcement in July 2019, he "falsely said that he only intended to purchase one package of castor beans and he purchased them because he liked the color of the castor oil plant’s leaves," the filing says.

File photo showing castor plant beans  (iStock)

One of his defense attorneys, Derege Demissie, told the Boston Globe that Saaem ultimately "amended" his castor bean order and only ever received one packet. The criminal filing did not disclose who Saaem might have been targeting by researching the poison, and Demissie declined to specify, telling the newspaper that more information would come out in "subsequent proceedings."

"I don’t want to get ahead of the process, but he is not charged with making anything or creating anything or harming anyone," Demissie said. "The main thing is, there was no intent to harm anyone, nothing happened, and nothing was ever going to happen."

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The charge of obstruction of justice provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, Mendell and Bonavolonta said in their joint announcement Tuesday. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors