BRITAIN:Detectives have found traces of polonium 210 at the London offices of the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, it was revealed last night.
Officers were searching 7 Down Street in Mayfair, central London, after the discovery of the radioactive substance which killed Mr Berezovsky's friend and former employee, Alexander Litvinenko.
A uniformed officer and at least one plainclothes policeman were stationed inside the lobby of the property last night.
Outside another 15 officers were on standby in two marked police vans and the area was cordoned off. Sources confirmed that traces of polonium 210 had been found at the address.
Mr Berezovsky, a multimillionaire who is an outspoken critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, refused to comment yesterday on the revelations.
Detectives were also searching a second new address at a security firm in Grosvenor Street, in the West End of London, where traces of polonium 210 have also been found.
In a statement to the House of Commons, the home secretary, John Reid, stressed that police had yet to open a murder inquiry.
He warned against any speculation about the death and said the police were not yet saying that Mr Litvinenko had been unlawfully killed.
"The police have been very careful in the words they have used; they are dealing with a suspicious death," he said. "We are not yet at the stage that there is definitely a third party involved in this."
Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and vocal opponent of Mr Putin, died on Thursday night.
A large dose of alpha radiation from the isotope polonium 210 was found in his urine. A statement he composed before his death blamed Mr Putin. The Kremlin has denied the claim.
Mr Reid drew back from Peter Hain's outspoken criticism of the Kremlin at the weekend. The Northern Ireland secretary had strained Britain's relations with Moscow further by accusing Mr Putin of "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.
An inquest on Mr Litvinenko's death is expected to open tomorrow.