Suspicious granules found in US mail, ricin feared

10.00am

NEW YORK - An envelope containing a suspicious powder found in a Connecticut post office overnight was addressed to the Republican National Committee and is being tested to see whether it is the deadly poison ricin.

The letter was found hours after a powder, which initially tested positive for ricin, was found in a United States Senate mailroom. Officials in Connecticut said field tests of the powder were inconclusive but all mail associated with the envelope was isolated until laboratory tests were completed later on Tuesday.

"We are performing a battery of tests for biological and chemical agents including testing for the presence of ricin," Connecticut health department spokesman Michael Purcaro said.

The envelope leaking greyish, sandy granules was found in Wallingford, Connecticut in one of the same mail sorting facilities where anthrax bacteria spores were found in the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people and also involved US Senate offices.


The mail clerk who made the discovery was wearing gloves when he handled the envelope and he was not injured, US assistant postal inspector in charge Kevin McDonough said.

He said the employee was decontaminated as a precaution.

No illnesses have been reported in either the Connecticut or US Senate incident. The discovery did disrupt business in the US Capitol complex on Tuesday.

A 94-year-old Connecticut woman was one of five people who died after inhaling anthrax that was spread in mail in the months immediately after the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on the United States. No one has been identified as responsible for the incidents.

- REUTERS