Letter with Suspicious Powder (Anthrax?) Surfaces at Colombo Office, Advisory Issued by UNDSS

By Animesh Roul

The UN Department of Safety and Security (at Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka) issued one advisory today (March 11) following the receipt of suspicious packages with powder substance at one of the government (possibly one of the UN agencies or affiliated) agencies in Colombo. This packet was comprised of a threatening letter which contained a white powdery substance. Presently the incident is being investigated by forensic people and police and probed by the concerned agency and DSS itself.

However, the mailshot dispatched by the deputy security advisor, UN DSS to all their contacts and UN offices declares:

“At this stage it is not known whether any threat to health is emanating from the substance in the letter. There have been cases in the U.S. where letters containing the Bacillus Anthracis (anthrax) have been received. In some cases anthrax exposure took place, with several persons becoming infected. Laboratory tests will have to be conducted in order to rule out this possibility in case of the threat letter that was received by the local agency.

There is a remote likelihood that similar envelopes, whether it being a hoax or a real threat, could be sent to other agencies. It is of critical importance that the first response steps are followed. These have been laid out in the SOP in mail handling, which was distributed to all HoA before.

Due to the urgency of the matter please find below guidelines and ensure that your mail handling staff are IMMEDIATELY informed of them. Agencies in Colombo are requested to provided feedback that mail handling staff have been informed back to the EOC Colombo until 1600 hrs today, ASCs are advised to instruct agencies in their AOR likewise.”

In Sri Lanka, in the 1980s, unidentified Tamil militants issued threat to use biological materials against the Sinhalese, though never used them. The militants planned out a strategy to cripple the country by spreading Bilbariasis and Yellow Fever. They also laid out plans to attack rubber plantations and tea gardens using anti plant agents and to poison water supplies of the army. However, there is no information about their capabilties as well. But history shows that they had knowledge and interests in BW materials and its mass disruption characteristics with all fear factors attched to it.

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