Global Security Newswire

Pakistani authorities want another examination of a package mailed to the nation's prime minister that initial laboratory analysis said contained anthrax. That finding appears in doubt, the Islamabad Dateline newspaper reported on Friday (see GSN, Feb. 2).

A parcel purportedly containing anthrax spores was earlier reported to have been sent to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's residence in October. The package was intercepted before reaching Gilani, and no one who came into contact with the mailing became sick.

"It is beyond comprehension," an unidentified high-ranking police officer said. "Six to seven persons at the PM House handled the parcel but were not affected. Anthrax is a dangerous biological weapon. We will contact the laboratory officials to re-examine the parcel."

The Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratory analyzed the parcel. Council Chairman Shaukat Pervaiz said the package had been submitted by an unidentified intelligence branch and then sent to a Lahore facility for scientific analysis.

"The laboratory tests have proven presence of anthrax spores in the parcel and it has been handed over to the agency with results," Pervaiz said.

No one was sickened because the package remained tightly closed, he said. 

"We are ready to re-examine the parcel if the police or another agency so wants," Pervaiz said, insisting that the "result will remain the same."

Though an initial investigation into the sender pointed to a post office at the Jamshoro branch of the University of Sindh, that lead has ground to a halt.

"The probe into tracing the culprits behind the parcel has apparently reached a dead end but still efforts are under way to avoid recurrence of such incidents in [the] future," the police official said. 

Previous reports said a female associate professor working at the university was a prime suspect. However, that is "mere speculation," the official said. "There is no concrete evidence to link the parcel with the professor."

The anonymous official did share that an investigation had been opened into why the parcel was not properly examined at the Pakistan Post and how it managed to pass by security checks prior to arriving at Gilani's home.

News of the purported anthrax package only came to light last week when an official criminal report was filed in court (Aamir Saeed, Islamabad Dateline, Feb. 3).

Islamabad law enforcement officials on Thursday filed a request to gain physical custody of the parcel from Gilani's security team, Pakistan Today reported (Pakistan Today, Feb. 3).