The paedophile and financier appeared to take an interest in the highly toxic plant that can be used to incapacitate victims, the latest batch of Epstein files has revealed.
Jeffrey Epstein’s questionable activities continue to be under the magnifying glass more than six years after the disgraced businessman was found dead inside his prison cell in an apparent suicide.
More information is emerging about what the convicted paedophile might have been up to and what his interests were.
Released as part of the latest tranche of millions of new Epstein files last month, a string of emails suggests he was particularly fascinated with one plant.
Angel’s Trumpet, dubbed the ‘Devil’s Breath, is a seemingly innocent plant with a dubious reputation as it contains highly toxic scopolamine.
Although scopolamine has genuine medicinal uses as a treatment, it is being abused as a date-rape drug and in robberies as the sedative can incapacitate victims and inhibit free will.
It is thought that Epstein, who owned multiple luxury properties across the world, was well aware of trumpet plants.
In an email dated March 3, 2014, Epstein wrote in an email to someone named ‘Ann Rodriguez’: ‘ask chris about my trumpet plants at nursery [sic], ?’
While there is no record of a reply within the Department of Justice files, Epstein appears to have received another email about the plants on January 27, 2015.
The email, forwarded by a sender whose details are redacted, contains an email chain featuring a link to a Daily Mail article and titled with the story’s headline ‘Scopolamine: Powerful drug growing in the forests of Colombia that eliminates free will.’
The article from May 2012, which has been copied into the email chain, details how the drug ‘eliminates free will and can wipe the memory of its victims.’
‘The drug, he said, turns people into complete zombies and blocks memories from forming. So even after the drug wears off, victims have no recollection as to what happened,’ it says.
Angel’s Trumpet, or Brugmansia, grows distinct pendant-like flowers. It is native to South America and the Andes, where it thrives in warm and humid climates. Indigenous tribes in the area have traditionally used the plant for ceremonies.
Ingesting the plant can easily lead to poisonings, with poison centers around the world documenting frequent cases of severe poisonings from the plant’s misuse, leading to extreme delirium, hallucinations and death, according to Science Direct.
The chilling emails were released by the US Department of Justice last month, thought to be the last batch the department will publish.
Epstein was awaiting trial for child sex trafficking charges when he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
It came years after he had been first convicted of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl in Florida in 2008, which led to his imprisonment before being released after a plea deal.
Epstein’s accomplice and girlfriend, the British former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US for helping Epstein to sexually abuse teenage girls.
Maxwell appeared in front of the US Congressional hearing on Epstein last week, but refused to answer any questions.
However, she hinted that she may testify in exchange for leniency on her sentence.
Maxwell was transferred to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, recently.
The latest Epstein files also contained CCTV footage of Maxwell inside her prison cell captured in July 2020.
Meanwhile, Essex Police detectives are assessing information around private flights linked to Epstein’s private jet, dubbed ‘Lolita Express,’ to and from Stansted Airport.
Epstein allegedly used the Boeing aircraft to transport girls and women around the world for exploitation.
It comes after the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, called for the police to re-examine claims that UK airports were involved in alleged trafficking in an article for the New Statesman.
Brown said the Epstein files showed that the jet made 90 flights to or from UK airports, including 15 after his 2008 conviction.
An Essex Police spokesperson said: ‘We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files.’
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