Powder packages spark embassy scare in Australia
Packages containing suspicious powder received in Israeli, US, British embassies in Canberra Wednesday, first two evacuated. Police say powder sent to Israeli embassy turned out to be harmless, but investigation continues
Australian police on Wednesday launched a criminal investigation after the embassies of Israel, the United States and Britain were sent packages containing white powder.
Staff from the US and Israeli embassies were evacuated after the anonymous packages were received in the mail. Police later said the powder at the Israeli mission was harmless, but tests were still underway on the other two samples.
"We are treating all three as linked until we can prove otherwise, given they were received on the same day, and a crime scene has been declared," a police spokesman said.
The heavily protected Israeli mission, in the city's leafy diplomatic quarter, was the first to receive a powder package, followed by the US embassy nearby. The British mission was not evacuated after powder was received there, a spokesman said.
Several foreign embassies, including the US, Japanese and South Korean missions, have been targeted in powder scares in recent years, as well as Australia's Parliament House. All turned out to be harmless.
In 2005, a full-scale emergency was triggered after powder was sent to the Indonesian embassy in Canberra during a controversy over the drug trial and jailing of an Australian woman in Bali.
An envelope containing white powder was also sent to former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer at Parliament House.
