UK: Nerve agent traces found in ex-spy's poisoning

Forensic units of the British police found nerve agent traces used against ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in a restaurant, where they were eating before falling ill.

"Traces of the nerve agent used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found at the restaurant where they ate on Sunday afternoon.", BBC said late Saturday on website.

The BBC announced that the substance was spotted in Zizzi, which is an Italian restaurant in the southern English city of Salisbury, during ongoing forensic research.

It stated Skripal and Yulia ate in this restaurant almost two hours before being found unconscious in front of a shopping mall.

The police continue their forensic examination in the restaurant.

In the BBC's news, it is said that those, who ate during the same hours when the ex-agent and his daughter had their meals, didn't have any health problems.

Emergency services said in an initial statement on March 9, that they believed that the two had been exposed to an unknown substance but later said a type of "nerve agent" was used in the incident.

As part of this investigation, British police previously stated that 250 anti-terror police and 180 British soldiers have been assigned in Salisbury.

The police previously set up a security cordon around the bench where the duo was found unconscious, a restaurant, a bar and Skripal’s house and car as well as the ambulance which took them.

Police later said they are treating the incident as "attempted murder".

Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. He had been convicted of "high treason in the form of espionage" by a Moscow military court in 2006 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison after admitting to leaking information to British intelligence services.