Diplomatic missions of the UK, France and Australia – key members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) – received identical parcels containing poisonous material on Wednesday.
According to the police, an unidentified person or persons from Sindh, sent letters to the three embassies on the same day, warning them against the reopening of Nato supply routes in Pakistan.
“NATO Supply Must Not Be Restored,” stated the letters in identical writing patterns. Officials investigating the case referred it to the secretariat police.
“Each parcel carried 0.5 grams of black powder. It was not explosive,” said a police officer, adding, however, that the material appeared to be poisonous.
The officer further said the material would be sent for laboratory tests to ascertain its composition and properties.
A police investigation officer said the poisonous material was in minute quantity and was insufficient to kill anyone. He also ruled out the possibility of it being anthrax.
“It appears the unknown sender or senders used poison as symbolic death to warn the embassies against the resumption of NATO supply routes,” said the police official, while requesting anonymity. He added that the matter has been taken seriously and is being thoroughly investigated.
The poisonous powder was first detected by the security staff of the embassies during clearance of parcels. They were handed over to the secretariat police who started investigations after registering cases against the unidentified senders.
When contacted, the Australian High Commission refused to comment on the matter, while the other two missions’ officials could not be reached.
After preliminary investigations, police officials said the letters were sent from some place in Sindh but the exact location was not known.
The letters, they added, were dispatched three days ago.
Till the filing of this report, the police were searching if other embassies in the diplomatic enclave had received similar parcels.
In a similar case about two months ago, anthrax in a parcel was sent to Prime Minister’s Secretariat. The parcel was traced back to the Jamshoro University post office in Sindh; however, the sender remains unidentified.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2012.
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