TRUTH SERUM CAUSES ENLARGED SPLEEN (splenomegaly)

THE AUTOPSY REVEALED THAT THE SOMERTON MAN
HAD A GREATLY ENLARGED SPLEEN

It is known that Sodium Thiopental (PENTOTHAL) also known as the Truth Serum, can cause significant enlargement of the spleen.

Developed By Abbott Laboratories, 1930s.

'A defector from the biological weapons Department 12 of the KGB "illegals" (S) directorate (e.g., presently a part of Russian SVR service) claimed a serum code-named SP-117[27] was highly effective, and has been widely used. According to him, "The 'remedy which loosens the tongue' has no taste, no smell, no color, and no immediate side effects. Most importantly, a person had no recollection having had the 'heart-to-heart talk'," and felt afterward as though they'd suddenly fallen asleep. Officers of S Directorate primarily used the drug to verify fidelity and trustworthiness of their agents who operated overseas'

TRUTH SERUM

Sodium Thiopental, also known as the Truth Serum, was used by the OSS, CIA and the Soviets during interrogations. In an earlier post about Russian Assassination techniques, we covered the use of such a serum, SP-117, to interrogate defectors and double agents prior to their being killed. These killings outside of the motherland were commonly carried out using hard to detect poisons including vapours and/or gas.

LETHAL DOSES

When I wrote that earlier post, I missed two very important points and they were that it causes the spleen to enlarge and in a large dose, 9g, Thiopental, (Sodium Pentathol) was and may still be used to carry out executions in the US.

'The most compelling evidence that even 5 g of thiopental alone may not be lethal, however, is that some California inmates continued to breathe for up to 9 min after thiopental was injected. This observation directly contradicts testimony of that state's expert witness, who asserted that "this dose of thiopental sodium will cause virtually all persons to stop breathing within a minute of drug administration" and that "virtually every person given 5 grams of thiopental sodium will have stopped breathing prior to the administration of the pancuronium bromide".[24] The witness has made identical statements regarding 3 g of thiopental.[14] Indeed, the clinical literature is replete with examples of patients experiencing respiratory failure after even low doses of thiopental.[25] Others, however, experience merely transient, nonfatal apnea. Of course, for inmates who did not stop breathing with thiopental alone, it is impossible to know whether the thiopental solution was correctly mixed, whether the entire dose was administered intravenously, or whether the apparent resistance was due to bolus dosing or individual variation. It remains possible, however, that bolus dosing of 5 g of thiopental alone might not be fatal in all persons. Indeed, nonhuman primates given as much as 60 mg/kg (the mass equivalent of 6 g for a 100 kg man) experienced prolonged sleep, but ultimately recovered.[26]'

THE QUESTIONS

Is it possible that the Somerton Man was given injections of this drug for interrogation purposes? Is it possible it was delivered over a period of time, a day or two, and is it possible that he was inadvertently given an overdose over that time? The spleen could have been enlarged at some time in the process.

Who administered the drug? Someone with medical training?

Or is it the case that he was drugged to the extent that his spleen was damaged and the lethal poison was administered post interrogation?

Wouldn't the drug have been discovered in the autopsy? Good question and it seems that it is possible that it wouldn't have been detected according to the Soviet descriptions of their drugs.

All up for discussion. What are your thoughts?

LOCK DOWN

I've placed myself in Lockdown for the next 4 weeks or so, it's unlikely that I 'll be making any posts in that time. I have opted to take part in some volunteer work that can be done from home which will take up a bit of time.

I wish everyone, without exception, the very best during these difficult times, take care of yourselves and if you have some tough lifestyle decisions to make, go early and go hard.

All The Best

Gordon

THE SCOTTISH CAPTAIN. (DOWNLOAD FULL PDF DOCUMENT)

Classified Communication 1949

This paragraph from a report filed by Colonel Bob Wake, head of the Commonwealth Investigation Service, Queensland, was submitted on the 4th of January 1949. It discussed aspects of a target organisation, The Association.

A Scottish Officer, made his appearance in Australia a few months prior to this report, October or November 1948. He was closely aligned to a UK extreme right-wing leader, Oswald Mosley.

THE CAPTAIN

The man's name was Captain Archbald Maule Ramsay, the Member of Parliament for Peebles in Scotland, he was also Mosley's right hand man. In WW1, Ramsay had been a Captain in the Coldstream Guards and was seriously wounded in action in France. You can read more about Ramsay here..

There can be little doubt that in 1948 Ramsay was in Australia on political business and was meeting with extreme elements of The Association based in Queensland and NSW.

THE ASSOCIATION

To understand more about the relationship between Mosely and The Association, you would need to become familiar with the history of The Association in Australia. Suffice to say that in the early 1930s, the predecessor to The Association, The Old Guard, was itself an extreme right-wing organization and Bob Wake rightly held fears that it was all happening again in 1948/49.

That's an expensive set of threads, you'd think he would have ironed the shoulders better...

THE INTELLIGENCE WAR

The Association. The Association was fervently anti-communist and sometimes that situation turned to physical or 'strong-arm' tactics as described in the full Volume the link for which appears below. Ramsay may have arrived to help put The Association on a war footing. 

It is known that The Association had infiltrated the Communist Party of Australia and that, similarly, the CPA had infiltrated The Association. They were effectively at war with each other, not quite open warfare, more an intelligence/espionage war.

The CPA. My position as stated in earlier posts is that the Somerton Man was one of the casualties of this war, I believe he was assassinated and that the circumstances of his death were such that they matched very closely the Modus Operandi of the Russian Intelligence services. I qualified that a little in that whilst they may have facilitated and organised the death, the actual killing may have been carried out by a local contingent. 

In the attached document you will read that, much like The Association, the CPA was well organised and had trained groups ready to travel anywhere in Australia or overseas to carry out espionage attacks. Interestingly, they also had trained nurses on staff so to speak.

We know from reading the linked and other documents that The Association had been appearing more and more on the CIS radar since January 1948, the pace had picked up significantly by November but, suddenly, in early December 1948 everything slowed down. 

There is no reference yet found in the CIS files that mentions any unusual activity on 30th November/1st December 1948.

THE SOMERTON MAN CONNECTION

What bearing could this possibly have on the Somerton Man case? 

I repeat,  I believe that the Somerton Man was assassinated and that the circumstances of his death were such that they matched very closely the Modus Operandi of the Russian Intelligence services. I qualified that a little in that whilst they may have facilitated and organised the death, the actual killing may have been carried out by a local contingent. He was in effect a casualty in the war between The Association and the CPA.

You will be able to read and analyse the communications traffic to an extent within the download. There are many more documents amounting to many thousands of pages, yet to be read, examined and filtered, they will be made available for download. on this and another site.

If anyone prefers to do their own research, please let me know and I will provide the CSV files that contain the many links involved.

DOWNLOAD PDF..

NEW INFORMATION: THE ASSOCIATION

FIELD MARSHALL BLAMEY

Head of the Association

Some time ago, we pulled together information based in part on the biography of Commander Rupert Long. The series of posts covered the activities and history of the Association, an anti-communist organisation made up in the main of senior officers from each branch of the armed services, many of whom had an intelligence background.

We were hampered somewhat by a shortage of documents from within the Association, that is no longer the case. We now have quite extensive documentation both from within the Association and about it.

This post at this stage is brief, in fact it deals with one particular document that was circulated which discussed an intelligence report that The Association had received regarding the activities of the occupants of Marx House:

Of particular interest are the last 2 paragraphs and in particular the highlighted paragraph.

There is another post to follow which, I think, will shed a whole new light on the Somerton Man case,

THE ADELAIDE SPIES PART 4. THE RUSSIANS. UPDATED NAMES LIST

FOUR SPIES IN ADELAIDE...

In a previous post on this topic, we found that Nosov visited Adelaide to meet with four agents. Two of them were described as Russians and two were said to be Australian born Russians.

On the face of it, that's not a lot to go on. But just maybe we can narrow down to the identities of two of them and get a clearer understanding of the other two and where they may have come from.

The two Australian born might just be identifiable, the fact that they were agents puts them in at least, their mid-20s and, quite possibly, older. How come?

Russians in Adelaide

According to a South Australian website, between the WW1 and WW2 years, whilst a number of Russians arrived in South Australia, there were two Russian families in Adelaide:

http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/russians-in-south-australia

To be fair that does sound a low number but it is a starting point.

SEE FAMILIES LIST BELOW 

If this number is correct and if the two Australian born Russians were from Adelaide, then we have a chance of getting their names and then hopefully their photographs.

After the cessation of hostilities in 1945, whilst many Russians arrived in Australia, many were sent back in compliance to the Yalta conference terms negotiated by Stalin. He demanded that all Russian refugees be repatriated by force if necessary. That happened for a short period initially but once the issue was known, many Russians acquired 'other' documents and nationalities. There was a flourishing trade in forged documents at that time. By 1947, the terms of the Yalta conference had been effectively ditched and that led to an uptick in Russians settling in Australia:

It's appropriate that we also look at others that came to live and work in SA in the 47/48 period. There were a number that went directly to Woomera to work on construction and maintenance, some 75 arriving there in mid November 1948, not long before the Somerton Man turned up on the beach.

So what of the two Russian born members of this group of 4? How will we go about finding them? It would help if there were a database to work from that covered South Australia in particular. As it happens, there is one with around 5000 records, and it is being analysed as I write this post. 

Don't expect an immediate result, it may take a little while to refine the information and identify thevarious Russian people as well as those that had altered Nationalities.

Let's pause here and reflect a little on where we are at the moment.

1. We have reached a conclusion that the Somerton Man was likely a double agent or a defector.

2. We have also reached the conclusion that he assassinated by Russian operatives given that the MO surrounding his death matched Russian intelligence agency methods.

3. We have two Russian agents in Adelaide with a chance that we can identify them from the database

4. We have two Australian born Russians in Adelaide with a slightly better chance of identifying them.

SA & ADELAIDE RUSSIAN FAMILY NAMES

I have included the dates of their submission of documentation. Some names do not appear to be Russian in origin:

Russians Adelaide:

Cotton, Louis - North Adelaide, SA - application for naturalization - Russian nationality 1921

Shertock, Sol - Toorak Gardens, SA - application for naturalization - Russian Jew [also failure to register as an alien] 1921

Maller, August [or Malier, Seminivitch] - Allandale, SA - application for naturalization - Russian nationality 1921

Matison [formerly Mitzenmacher], 1916 Dr Eugene Abraham - Kensington, SA - applicant for naturalization - Russian [also medical examination of Army recruits; application for change of name; application for admission to Australia of Annemaria Abraham-Collin, Willy Wolf and family, Guiseppe Donenko Nichele; application for entry to RAAF by Victor Charles Matison; report on suspicious activities]

Rosanove, Mrs Bruha - Russian - application to re-enter Australia 1921

ROSING J Russian Trade Representative 1928

HERSCOVICI Rubin - Russian Workers International Relief Functionaire 1923

Plisch, Gustav Ogust [August] Alexander - Adelaide - application for naturalization - Russian [or German] nationality 1914

Russians South Australia

Magnus, Olaf - Pata, South Australia - application for naturalization - Russian (Estonian) nationality 1920

Michelson, John Victor - Clive Hill, Mount Cooper Post Office, SA - application for naturalization - Russian subject [born Latvia]1920

Ratai, Victor - Port Pirie West, SA - application for passport - naturalised Russian 1927

Vasikoff, Gaye - Port Pirie, SA - application for naturalization - Russian 1923

Prosso, Alexander - application for naturalization - Russian [also enquiry by Bankruptcy re whereabouts of wife Ethel May Prosso] 1923

ROSING J Russian Trade Representative 1928

Pillberg, William - Port Pirie, SA - Master [mariner] - application for naturalization - Russian nationality 1921

THE ADELAIDE SPIES PART2. UPDATED WITH VIDEO

WOOMERA

In the first post on this topic, we discussed the issue of how NOSOV the Soviet NKVD resident, had travelled to Adelaide June/July 1947 to meet with four new agents. Two of these men were Russians,  and, two more were Australian born of Russian descent.

Their role was to gather intelligence on the newly established rocket range at Woomera and at the labs in Salisbury, just North of Adelaide, the center for the Long Range Weapons Establishment.

It seems likely that those who were tasked with the Woomera aspect of the work would have been employed there whilst those at Salisbury would have perhaps used another kind of approach as in cultivating agents within the establishment. If this assumption is correct, then it would be reasonable to place the senior man in Salisbury to coordinate the intelligence operation, he would, I think, be a Russian as opposed to one of the Australian born men.

My best guess would be that the two in Woomera would have been employed there possibly on construction or maintenance work.

Captured V2 Rocket at Salisbury 1948.
It was destined for Woomera but instead went on public display.

NAMES & CODENAMES

Finding names for these agents is difficult, we have spoken about a man named Vlasov but additional research has discounted that name. It transpired that Nosov was accompanied on the trip from Sydney to Melbourne by a man named SERGEI SHIBAEV, this man was purportedly a commercial attache at the Canberra Embassy. It is now thought that this was our man destined to run the operation in Adelaide and quite likely under an assumed name. So, now we have a name but, at this stage at least, we don't have a photograph for SERGEI. We may, however, be able to find a codename for him.

Going through the second volume of information on NOSOV, a number of code names have been found, we need to do further research to append these names to real names, here is a first cut of codenames from the documents:

There are others of course and this post will be updated. We do know that Nossov used the code name TECHNICIAN and was in the habit of signing off with just the  'T'. Apparently, that was par for the course for all Soviet operatives in Australia.

CLANDESTINE COMMUNICATIONS

For the 4 men in the field, they would need a relatively secure form of communication between Woomera and Salisbury, telephone would be insecure as would normal written communication by letter as security at Woomera would, one would imagine, be tight and letters would be scanned/viewed by censors.

It does seem that we may just have come full circle the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam with its code being transferred between Woomera and Salisbury/ Adelaide being a real possibility. More to follow on that.

DOWNLOAD

Link to download for NOSOV, Volume 2, references to Adelaide occur from page 213 onwards of this document. There is much in the way of interesting information to be found  the rest of the document and well worth reading. It deals mostly with investigations surrounding the Royal Commission into Espionage in Australia, the Petrov affair.