NICOSIA — U.S. embassies have been receiving packages with envelopes
containing white powder.
Officials said the envelopes arrived at 18 embassies
since Dec. 8 in what appeared to be an organized effort.
"So far, it seems to be a way of testing our responses," an official
said. "The packages have not contained any dangerous substances."
On Dec. 22, a suspicious package arrived at the U.S. embassy in the
Republic of Cyprus, Middle East Newsline reported. Greek Cypriot authorities arrived and collected the
envelope to test for toxins.
"We discovered a suspicious package which had arrived in the mail," U.S.
embassy spokesman James Ellickson-Brown said.
So far, the suspicious envelopes were sent to U.S. embassies in Europe,
Asia and the Middle East. In late December, packages arrived at the American
embassies in Japan
and the Czech Republic.
Officials said the State Department has conducted drills for embassy
staffers who find suspicious packages. They said the measures were
instituted in wake of anthrax-laced envelopes sent to American politicians
in 2001. Five people were killed.
"The work has been done," Ellickson-Brown said of the latest incident in
Nicosia. "The package is no longer here at the embassy."
