BIRMINGHAM: Police and MI5 officers hunting for a stash of deadly ricin poison fear it could already be in the hands of an Algerian terrorists’ cell based in the Midlands.

The revelation came after the anti-terrorists squad last week raided a north London flat and discovered a “kitchen sink laboratory” being used to make the substance said to be twice as toxic as cobra venom.

Six Algerian men and an Ethiopian national were later arrested in connection with the shock find above a chemist’s shop in London. But a search recovered only tiny traces of ricin on kitchen equipment, sparking fears that larger quantities of potentially lethal chemical may have been transported to other North African terrorist sleeper cells across the country.

Worried security agency officials also believe there may be up to three more crude “poison factories” operating in UK.

Now the nationwide hunt has moved to the Midlands as detectives probe the backgrounds of hundreds of Algerian asylum- seekers who entered Britain from the strife-torn country.

Some are believed to be terrorists belonging to the fanatic Armed Islamic Group (GIA).