Saturday, October 20, 2001

Saturday, October 20, 2001

Site of anthrax mailings found

FBI locates mailbox used to send the letters

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Investigators have found the mailbox used by the person who sent two anthrax-tainted letters, federal officials said Friday. A source said the FBI is hunting several suspects, including a Pakistani who overstayed his visa.

"The FBI has been able to identify the site where the letters were mailed," said Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security. Asked specifically if he meant post office or mailbox, he said: "Mailbox."

He would not discuss the location of the mailbox, but postal inspectors said "multiple mailboxes" had been identified and removed west of Trenton, N.J. Most of the attention focused on Ewing, a town of 35,700 people about six miles northwest of Trenton.

Ridge also confirmed that all three samples of anthrax recovered so far in Florida, New York and Washington are identical and appear to have "come from the same batch."

"The tests to date have concluded that the strains are indistinguishable," he said. Nevertheless, the anthrax "may have been distributed to different individuals to infect and to send into different communities."

The female New Jersey mail carrier who developed skin anthrax served 570 addresses — mostly private homes but also some apartment buildings — in Ewing, according to Tony Esposito, a postal inspector. She did not pick up mail from public boxes, co-workers said.

Two anthrax-laden letters — one sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, the other to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle — were postmarked at a regional mail center that serves the Ewing-Trenton area.

A second postal employee at that regional center, a 35-year-old man, has developed skin anthrax on his neck, health and postal officials said Friday. In New York City, the same disease was contracted by an employee of The New York Post, the newspaper announced.

In all, eight cases have been confirmed in New York, New Jersey and Florida, and five media companies have been struck by anthrax. A South Florida man died; the others are being treated.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, received good news Friday: He tested negative for exposure to anthrax, according to his spokesman, Larry Shepherd.

Bennett was encouraged by Capitol officials to be tested because he had walked through a part of the Hart Senate Office Building served by the same ventilation system as the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., where anthrax had been mailed in a letter. Bennett also had been given antibiotics and asked to take them until his test results were returned.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was also tested for anthrax exposure but was still awaiting results, according to spokesman Chris Rosche. Hatch's office is in the Hart Senate Office Building, but it was served by a different ventilation system than Daschle's office.

At the White House, spokeswoman Claire Buchan confirmed that a single mailbox had been identified by authorities. "That is a lead that is being strongly pursued," she said.

According to a U.S. law enforcement official who has been briefed on the case, the FBI is trying to track down a small number of people in connection with the anthrax that was mailed from the Trenton Main Post Office in Hamilton Township.

One of them, said the official, who requested anonymity, is the Pakistani national who has disappeared.

He said FBI agents are studying security camera videotapes of people who visited post offices in that area and bought the type of pre-stamped envelopes that ultimately delivered the disease. The official acknowledged, however, that the envelopes could have been bought elsewhere.

Federal and state health officials advised all 900 employees of the Trenton Main Post Office and a smaller post office in West Trenton to see their doctors and begin a seven-day course of antibiotics.

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2001

Answers

Response to ATHRAX - Several suspects sought, including Pakistani

Anthrax: American Behind Attacks?

Ninth US Anthrax Case Briton Knew Risks Parliament Anthrax Scare

US investigators have told Sky News the anthrax outbreak may not be the work of Osama bin Laden, but instead, that of someone inside America 'cashing in' on the wave of panic which followed the September 11 attacks.

Although not ruling out the possibility bin Laden may be behind the infected letters, one source told Sky's US correspondent Keith Graves the person or group behind the deadly disease may be American.

Unabomber

Seven people in the US have tested positive for anthrax, the latest being Briton Claire Fletcher who works for CBS Evening News.

There have been a spate of scares across the globe, including one on Friday in Britain's House of Commons.

Graves said some FBI chiefs were looking at the theory a Unabomber-style operator may be at large, cashing in on the current wave of panic sweeping the US.

'Localised'

Theodore Kaczynski was given a life sentence in May 1998 for carrying out 16 bomb attacks between 1978 and 1995.

"Some sources say 'Think of the Unabomber but using anthrax'. The Unabomber of course had a chip on his shoulder about the media and some sections of the government," Keith said.

"What they are indicating is that perhaps it is a localised thing rather than a link to terrorism. They are coming to the conclusion that this is more of a domestic attack not a conspiracy against America."

Bin Laden link?

Some investigators have pointed out the anthrax attacks do not fit in with bin Laden's modus operandi. Previous terrorist acts have been characterised by spectacular attacks on US interests designed to grab world attention.

"He has been involved in things like blowing up the USS Cole, the American embassies and the World Trade Centre," Keith said.

"Sending out a few letters through the post causing widespread panic and confusion does not fit in with the sort of operation that someone like Osama bin Laden is likely to sponsor."

Debate

It is widely believed the anthrax strain found in New York, Washington and Florida came from the same source and was scientifically altered.

One American network reported the strains were not scientifically manufactured but were naturally occurring - and were "finely ground" to make them easier to enter the lungs.

However, former UN weapons inspector Richard Butler has maintained in recent interviews that the attacks are state sponsored - and Iraq is the likely culprit.

Last Modified: 16:06 UK, Friday October 19, 2001

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2001