It may be less than 24 hours since two people were reportedly exposed to an “unknown substance” in Amesbury, UK, but social media is already awash with opinions about the latest whodunit despite the shortage of facts.
The incident happened just 12km from Salisbury, the scene of the dramatic and highly politicized poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March. Hours after the initial reports, the case was referred to the counter-terrorism division of the police.
Few details of the new potentially damaging case have been made public, so people on social media are in full speculation mode about it.
The fact that it happened four months to the day after the Skripals’ poisoning didn’t go unnoticed.
Of course, assigning blame is on many people’s mind. One popular theory is that Russia needs a distraction ahead of the upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki.
The UK government also seems to be in need of a distraction – from its Brexit troubles… or whatever.
Some observed how public messaging over the incident has shifted.
And some say it may not be a poisoning case after all.