Salisbury inquiry: novichok bottle may have been ‘re-sealed’ after poisoning

Russian agents suspected of nerve agent attack may have used portable heat sealer during ‘missing 33 minutes’

Two Russian agents suspected of carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning may have used a portable heat sealer to repackage a fake perfume bottle containing novichok during a “missing 33 minutes” when they vanished from CCTV cameras shortly after the attack, an inquiry heard.

The police counter-terrorism chief who leads the investigation said it was possible they slipped into a toilet block, re-sealed the novichok container in plastic and left it in a bin in the city centre before re-appearing on security cameras.