Oh, Those Movie Spies and Their Cyanide Pills - WIRED
WEBApr 20, 2013 · There's a history - usually dated back to World War II - of spies carrying suicide pills, just in case they were captured. These were reportedly called L-pills (L for Lethal).
Do spies use cyanide or other suicide agents as a last resort?
WEBOct 9, 2011 · An L-pill is a lethal pill carried by spies to prevent them from revealing secrets if captured and tortured. During World War II, some L-pills contained a lethal dose of cyanide encased in a glass capsule that could be concealed in a fake tooth and released by the agent's tongue.
Suicide pill - Wikiwand
WEBA suicide pill (also known as the cyanide pill, kill-pill, lethal pill, death-pill, cyanide capsule, or L-pill) is a pill, capsule, ampoule, or tablet containing a fatally poisonous substance that a person ingests deliberately in order to achieve death quickly through suicide.
The usage of cyanide pills in history - The Vintage News
WEBMay 23, 2017 · The pills were first developed by the British and the American secret services during World War II. The pea-sized tablets were given to agents who had missions behind the enemy lines. Filled with highly toxic potassium cyanide, the pills were hidden inside a fake tooth, which had to be crushed by the agent in order to digest the poison.
TRIGON: The CIA Spy Who Funneled Soviet Secrets to the United …
WEBOct 27, 2023 · Operating under the spy name “TRIGON,” he’s considered one of the most successful Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents of the Cold War, passing along vast amounts of valuable information to the Americans. When discovered by his enemies, he took a cyanide pill, rather than confess to what he’d done.
TRIGON: Spies Passing in the Night - CIA - The World Factbook
WEBOn June 22, 1977, Aleksandr Ogorodnik killed himself with a CIA-supplied suicide pill after the KGB arrested him based on information initially provided by a mole within the Agency. Just over three weeks later, CIA officer Martha (Marti) Peterson—unaware of Aleksandr’s death—was seized in a KGB ambush while servicing a dead drop in Moscow.
The Drugs That Built a Super Soldier - The Atlantic
WEBApr 8, 2016 · Soldiers in units infiltrating Laos for a four-day mission received a medical kit that contained, among other items, 12 tablets of Darvon (a mild painkiller), 24 tablets of codeine (an opioid...
The Spy World's Most Devious Disguises, Devices, And Deceptions
WEBMar 22, 2023 · Nicknamed the "Kiss of Death," the pistol fired when the bottom of the tube was turned. For male agents during World War II, according to War History Online, British spies could use a small gun that resembled an ordinary tobacco pipe. Firearms have also been hidden in — and disguised as — flashlights.
World Wars: Training SOE Saboteurs in World War Two - BBC
WEBFeb 17, 2011 · It was his job to tell the agents about SOE's two sets of pills: Benzedrine kept you awake, when necessary, and the 'L' tablet, which came in a little rubber cover, was a suicide pill.
Executed in Error | The Five Top Poisons | Secrets of the Dead - PBS
WEBApr 25, 2023 · It is the fastest acting of all poisons and for this reason it is the poison of suicide pills of the type carried by secret agents.