Anthrax sent to PM Gilani's office
02 February, 2012
ISLAMABAD: A small parcel sent to the Prime Minister's Secretariat in October last year contained anthrax, the PM's House said on Wednesday.
Akram Shaheedi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, said that a female professor allegedly sent the substance from Jamshoro University Campus Colony post office.
Shaheedi said the laboratories of the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Islamabad confirmed that the substance in the packet was anthrax, adding that the packet was received in October 2011. He did not say why the case was publicised now.
Talking to our sources, Hakim Khan, station house officer of the Secretariat Police, confirmed the report about such a packet, saying a case has been registered against unidentified people under Section 270 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The complainant in the case is an official of the PM's Secretariat, Abdul Hafeez, he said.
A senior police official, on the condition of anonymity, told our sources that the packet was received by a security official at the main gate of the secretariat. The security official found that the packet was filled with a suspicious powder and sent it to the PCSIR laboratories for test.
"The PCSIR report confirmed that the packet was filled with anthrax, which could also contain silica or other sophisticated additives to make it float more easily in the air," the police official maintained. SHO Khan also said that a special team had been constituted and further investigation is underway.
According to experts, exposure to anthrax spores could be deadly, but preparing the bacteria in a form that can be easily delivered needs specialist knowledge and access to a laboratory.
Courtesy: Daily Times
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