Anthrax scare as suspect package sent to US embassy

EMERGENCY services were called to the American embassy yesterday in an anthrax scare after a suspect package believed to contain a powder was received at the compound.

Six fire engines with fire brigade personnel in protective gear rushed to the Embassy at around 9am.

The package roused the suspicions of the embassy staff, and police were called in.

Embassy spokesman James Ellickson-Brown said, “We discovered a suspicious package which had arrived in the mail. The package was detected around 8.20am and under the normal procedure followed in such cases we alerted the local authorities, who responded immediately and came in to investigate the matter.”

Brown said he could not comment on specifics of the case or from where the package had been dispatched.

“The work has been done, the package is no longer here at the embassy,” Ellickson-Brown said. “It could take several days to complete inquiries,” he added.

Brown expressed the appreciation of the American Ambassador for the “excellent assistance we got from local authorities”.

Fire Department Spokeswoman Lisa Kemmidji said that, “The fire service took a sealed envelope of unknown content, which has been sent to health services for further tests.”

American embassies in 18 countries have received envelopes with white powder since December 8. At 16 of the missions the letters were found to be harmless, while envelopes sent to embassies in Prague and Tokyo last week were being tested for
toxins.

US authorities have been on alert for such letters since 2001, when envelopes laced with the anthrax toxin were sent to media outlets and to US politicians, killing five people.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.