The headquarters of the New York Times Co. yesterday received an envelope filled with a suspicious powder that does not appear to contain any dangerous biological agent, one of more than 45 similar mailings this week, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Oct. 22).
A threatening letter also arrived at the Dallas branch of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko.
"Most of the letters contain a powder substance with a threatening communication," Kolko said. No biological warfare material has been found, but analyses of material in the mailings continued at laboratories around the United States, he added.
Questioned on whether a lone perpetrator was responsible for powder-filled envelopes sent to financial institutions in 11 states, Kolko said that "there's certainly a common thread."
The New York Times Co. quickly notified authorities after the suspicious letter was opened on the 13th floor, spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said.
"A white granular substance was in the envelope. The New York City police were called and are now on site investigating,” Mathis said, noting that no staffers had been hospitalized (Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters/Montreal Gazette, Oct. 23).
One law enforcement source said the letter received by the newspaper seemed unconnected to the other mailings, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
The official noted that the letter did not have a Texas postmark and that the powder it contained had a different composition than powder in the other mailings (Colleen Long, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 22).
Suspicious letters as of yesterday had been found at financial entities — mostly bank branches — in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., the Denver Post reported (Howard Pankratz, Denver Post, Oct. 22).