Army Radio receives suspicious parcel

Envelope had white powder inside; Bank of Israel receives similar package.

By JOSEPH FLESH
Envelopes with a suspicious white powder inside arrived at the offices of Army Radio and the Bank of Israel on Thursday, the latest in dozens of such incidents. Army Radio employees quickly contacted the police, who called for the immediate evacuation of the Army Radio offices for fear that the white powder may have been anthrax spores. The offices were subsequently closed and workers from the Environmental Ministry arrived in protective suits to take samples and investigate. The envelope had been addressed to Mihal Leibo, a senior employee at the station. Her address had been printed onto a sticker. When she opened the envelope, a white powder fell out onto her hand. "We hope that this is just a false alarm and not something real," said the Army Radio spokeswoman. All such incidents until now, including a similar envelope that arrived at Teva Pharmaceuticals, have turned out to be pranks. Environmental Ministry workers were called in at the Bank of Israel as well, where the envelope was detected during a preliminary screening process that all mail is subjected to. One day earlier, the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem was partially evacuated after a suspicious envelope was found during a routine mail check. Following an x-ray scan of the envelope security officers decided to evacuate part of the building, and a police sapper was called to the scene.