Deadly poison found in letter at postal site

On-Scene Coordinator Bob Rosen of the Environmental Protection Agency enters the Greenville Airport Mail Facility on Wednesday. Staff/Bart Boatwright e-mail this story Related Related stories: • Ricin a potent terror weapon

A package containing a vial of the deadly poison ricin was found in Greenville's airport postal distribution center but officials said Wednesday they do not believe the incident is related to terrorism.

A spokesman with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said samples of the letter tested positive for ricin, but they have not tested the envelope or the vial. Mail that came in contact with the envelope was not exposed. It was unclear when postal workers were told that a suspicious substance had been found.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said the letter appeared to be linked to an extortion plot. He would not say who the letter was addressed to, where the letter was going or what it said. He also would not say how much ricin was in the vial or what form it was in — powder or liquid.

"There is no evidence to indicate this is linked to international terrorism but is more criminal in nature," said Larry Jackson, a spokesman for the federal Homeland Security Department in Washington.

The postal facility where the vial was discovered is not open to the public, Stewart said. Mail from airplanes that fly into the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport is sorted there for destinations elsewhere, postal officials said.

A postal worker at a distribution center on Brozzini Court off Pelham Road found the vial Oct. 15 in an envelope marked "caution - Ricin - poison," according to Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis. The substance was in a small, water-tight, metal vial.

On Tuesday, federal health officials confirmed the substance was ricin. U.S. Homeland Security officials warned in May that terrorists have considered using ricin to poison people through food and water, but Wednesday they quickly discounted that the incident was an act of terrorism.

The postal facility was closed "out of an abundance of caution" until environmental testing can be completed, officials said. A team from the CDC in Atlanta has been assigned to investigate any potential health hazards at the facility, said Llelwyn Grant, a spokesman for the agency.

"So far we don't believe there is any discernable public health impact or risk as a result of this discovery," he said. "But the investigation is still ongoing."

There is no test for exposure to the poison.

"There's no report of anyone becoming ill," Stewart said.

Late Wednesday, the distribution center was closed but federal workers were seen coming and going through the front doors. When asked by reporters, the workers would not identify themselves or the agencies they worked for.

The facility is located just south of Garlington Road and east of Pelham Road in a large beige and white warehouse. The only indication that the office is a postal facility is the foot-wide blue U.S. Postal Service logo on the front door.

Ricin, made from the castor plant, is relatively easy to make and can be deadly in small doses.

"It was a just a suspicious package call," Loftis said. "It was not a HazMat response or anything."

The deputies brought the package in a squad car to another deputy, who is a member of the county's terrorism task force. Loftis stressed authorities don't believe the package is terrorism related.

The deputy then gave the package to State Law Enforcement Division agents for analysis, Loftis said. They followed procedures set up during the anthrax attacks almost two years ago, he said.

Loftis would not say who sent the letter or why.

"It would be pure speculation," he said. "It is too early in the investigation to really make a determination."

Federal officials do not believe any employees were exposed or harmed, said Azeezaly Jaffer, vice president for public affairs and communications for the postal service. Jaffer said a postal worker spotted the package and told a supervisor, who notified local hazardous material officials and the FBI.

Gov. Mark Sanford ordered his staff to ensure that state agencies are cooperating fully with federal officials in the matter, Sanford said in a statement released late Wednesday.

The ricin incident comes two years after a still-at-large terrorist laced several letters with the anthrax bacteria, sending them to the Washington office of Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, the New York Post, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw the offices of American Media, Inc., publisher of several supermarket tabloids, including The National Enquirer.

Written on Daschle's letter were the words: "Death To America. Death to Israel. Allah is Great."

Five people were killed and 17 sickened. A postal facility in Washington, D.C. has not reopened and neither has The American Media headquarters in Boca Raton. The first death occurred on Oct. 5, 2001, just weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Anthrax is a naturally occurring bacteria that kills one in five victims that become infected in the most common way by it entering through a cut in the skin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.