Poison cigars and exploding chocolate: Seven bizarre assassination plots
Sunday 5 August 2018 12:30, UK
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he has survived an assassination attempt after explosive-laden drones were detonated near him as he gave a speech in Caracas.
Although drone bombs are unusual, there have been many bizarre death plots around the world over the years on politicians and defectors. Here are a few of them.
:: Fidel Castro
The CIA tried a number of strange ways to try to assassinate the Cuban president, the most famous being the poisoning of a box of his favourite cigars in 1960.
But unfortunately for the US authorities, they were never chewed by the communist dictator.
A box of exploding cigars was also said to have been considered by the US, but it's not known whether plans ever left the drawing board.
Other plots included lacing a scuba diving suit with a fungus that would produce a chronic and debilitating skin disease.
There are different versions about what happened, with some saying Castro was wrongly given a different suit and others said the infected one never left the laboratory.
And there was the poison-pen plot that involved using a hypodermic needle hidden in a pen. But it was never taken to Cuba.
:: Sir Winston Churchill
The Nazis plotted to kill Sir Winston Churchill with a bar of exploding chocolate.
They coated explosive devices with a thin layer of rich dark chocolate, and placed it in black and gold packaging.
The Germany apparently planned to use secret agents in the UK to put the bars - branded as Peters Chocolate - among luxury items in a war cabinet room.
But the plot was thwarted by British spies who discovered the chocolate.
:: Patrice Lumumba
The CIA tried to kill the Congolese prime minister, who had communist leanings, using poisoned toothpaste.
The agency's man on the ground, Larry Devlin, was tasked with carrying out the plot in 1960.
But he disagreed with it, keeping his views quiet from his bosses.
Mr Devlin spent several months making ultimately fruitless attempts to carry out the orders.
And Lumumba was killed by a firing squad under the commands of his rivals in 1961.
:: Khaled Meshaal
In 1997, lsrael plotted to kill the Palestinian, who was seen as head of Hamas' branch in Jordan.
On the orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad agents were sent to the capital Amman to inject poison into his ear.
One managed to put a dangerous device in his left ear, which left Meshaal in a coma. The two agents were captured.
Jordan and the US demanded that Israel hand over an antidote, which Israel subsequently did, saving his life.
Both agents were sent back to Israel and the spiritual leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, was released from Israeli custody.
:: Alexander Litvinenko
The former Russian spy died after being poisoned by polonium 210 in 2006.
The radioactive material was believed to have been hidden in a teapot at London's Millennium Hotel.
British investigators concluded it was a state-sponsored assassination by Russian authorities.
The chief suspect was ex-Russian spy Andrei Lugovoy, who has rejected allegations he was involved.
He has not been extradited from Russia, despite a request from the UK.
:: Georgi Markov
Another Russian-linked death in London was that of the Bulgarian dissident writer.
He was poisoned in his leg by a specially-adapted umbrella on Waterloo Bridge as he waited for a bus in 1978.
His unknown assassin was believed to be from the secret services of Bulgaria, which apparently planned the operation with the KGB.
:: Sergei Skripal
Earlier this year, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived poisoning with the nerve agent novichok in Salisbury - an attack the British government has blamed on Russia. Moscow denies the allegation.
Last month, Dawn Sturgess died in Wiltshire after being exposed to novichok which was in a sealed bottle she thought was perfume.