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Belgium Detains Iraqi Man in Toxic Letters Case
Reuters ^ | June 5, 2003

Posted on 06/05/2003 1:02:10 PM PDT by Shermy

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian prosecutors said on Thursday they had detained a man of Iraqi nationality after a series of letters containing a nerve gas ingredient were sent to the prime minister's office and the U.S. and British embassies.

A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told a news conference the 45-year-old man was arrested late on Wednesday in the western Belgian town of Deinze.

Two postal workers were taken to hospital after being exposed to the chemicals in the letters at mail depots.

No one else was hurt by the 10 letters sent to a variety of targets, including a court trying al Qaeda suspects in Brussels, the Saudi Arabian embassy, three ministries, an airport and a port authority. The letters were received on Wednesday.

The brownish-yellow powder contained phenarsazine chloride, an arsenic derivative used in nerve gas, as well as hydrazine, an agent used as a rocket propellant, the Health Ministry said. Both substances are also found in pesticides.

The letters contained no more than a spoonful of the chemicals -- not enough to be life-threatening -- but caused irritation to the eyes, skin and breathing.

The prosecutor's office spokesman said that if the man was found guilty of injuring the people and making them unable to work, he could face between six months and two years in jail.

A spokeswoman for the federal police said that five police officers had also been taken to hospital on Thursday, but she could not confirm a report on Belgian radio that the officers had been affected by powder from the letters.

Belgian news agency Belga said the policemen had been working at an office block in central Brussels housing various judicial services, which had then been evacuated for fear the powder could spread through the air conditioning system


TOPICS: Anthrax Scare; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 200306; alqaeda; arsenic; belgium; breaking; brownpowder; brussels; chemicalweapon; embassy; embassyplots; gwot; hydrazine; ibm; ibmtower; iraq; iraqi; iraqwar; isolatedincidents; letters; pesticide; phenarsazine; phenarsazinechloride; powder; ratpoison; terrorism; terrortrials; threatletters; ukembassy; usembassy; wmd; yellowpowder

1 posted on 06/05/2003 1:02:11 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: okie01; Mitchell; piasa; mrustow; Fred Mertz; archy; Badabing Badaboom; pokerbuddy0; aristeides; ...
Hydrazine ping.
2 posted on 06/05/2003 1:03:12 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy
Whoa!
3 posted on 06/05/2003 1:05:30 PM PDT by Dog
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To: Angelus Errare; Coop; hchutch; Grampa Dave; Miss Marple; Dog Gone
fyi!
4 posted on 06/05/2003 1:06:25 PM PDT by Dog
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To: Dog; aristeides; knighthawk; archy
Heads up. Possible incident at the "IBM Tower" today: Here's a babelfish translation:

Alarm with the toxic powders with tower IBM (Alerte aux poudres toxiques à la tour IBM)

Tower IBM, in particular sheltering the buildings of the SJA of Brussels (legal Service of district), was evacuated Thursday towards 16h00 after an alarm with the toxic powders during which five police officers were wounded, one learned near the federal parquet floor. These five police officers had to receive care at the hospital. They presented the same symptoms as the poisoned people Wednesday by hydrazine and the phénarsazine, namely of irritations to the eyes, the skin and the throat. The spokesman of the federal parquet floor specified that their days were not in danger.

One of the reasons which justified the evacuation of Tower IBM, located in the district of Botany in Brussels, is the fact that the toxic powders could have been spread in the building through the air-flues conditioned. Belga


5 posted on 06/05/2003 1:09:39 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy
The prosecutor's office spokesman said that if the man was found guilty of injuring the people and making them unable to work, he could face between six months and two years in jail.

Thats all?

6 posted on 06/05/2003 1:11:12 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Recall Gray Davis and then start on the other Democrats)
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To: Shermy
One of the reasons which justified the evacuation of Tower IBM, located in the district of Botany in Brussels, is the fact that the toxic powders could have been spread in the building through the air-flues conditioned. Belga

That is the formula that Al Queda training instructions details.

7 posted on 06/05/2003 1:12:59 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Recall Gray Davis and then start on the other Democrats)
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To: Shermy
It figures.
8 posted on 06/05/2003 1:13:51 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: Shermy
I thought Belgium was safe from terrorist attack, because they opposed the US led war to oust Saddam...

9 posted on 06/05/2003 1:15:15 PM PDT by Guillermo (Proud Infidel)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
They don't want to anger Al-Qaeda.
10 posted on 06/05/2003 1:16:02 PM PDT by Guillermo (Proud Infidel)
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To: Shermy
Thanks for the ping. That was awfully quick, wasn't it? Wondering how they found this guy so quickly - and if he's one of the "Deck"...
11 posted on 06/05/2003 1:22:46 PM PDT by cgk (It is liberal dogma that human life is an accident - Linda Bowles (r.i.p.))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thats all?

Despicable. Even for Belgium.

Prairie

12 posted on 06/05/2003 1:54:17 PM PDT by prairiebreeze (We will not deny, ignore or pass our problems along to other Presidents. ---GWBush)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2967376.stm

An Iraqi man has been arrested in Belgium in connection with a number of letters laced with toxic powders that were sent to the prime minister's office and the US and British embassies.
A 45-year-old man was taken into custody in the western town of Deinze, police said.

The arrest came a day after police said they were investigating 10 letters containing harmful powders.

The chemicals included phenarsazine, an arsenic derivative used in rat poison, and hydrazine, used as a rocket propellant, the health ministry said.

One report said hydrazine had also been used as an incapacitating gas during the two world wars. ...

[Yet another possible use for hydrazine]
13 posted on 06/05/2003 1:58:24 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: Shermy
Sure is a good thing that -- as Scott Ridder reassures us -- there never were any WMD in Iraq and there was no terrorist connection. I have an excellect piece of ocean front property in Arizona, if anyone is interested.
14 posted on 06/05/2003 2:08:16 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: Shermy
Nah, this couldn't have been perpetrated by an Iraqi - Iraqis don't have any such chemicals, remember? </sarcasm>

If these letters were mailed from Belgium to Belgium, the transit time for the letters is relatively short. We'll know in a few more days if any of these letters were mailed internationally, given that it takes a few more days for mail to cross oceans. International embassies should be on the lookout. And we should keep our eyes peeled for stories in the next week or so.

15 posted on 06/05/2003 2:08:25 PM PDT by BagCamAddict
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To: Shermy
Thank you so much for the heads up!
16 posted on 06/05/2003 2:11:25 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
So, an Iraqi in europe has nerve agents, but they don't exist in Iraq. How can that be? What was this man's job in Iraq? Did he work at the zoo and picked up this skill on the internet? Give me a break.
17 posted on 06/05/2003 3:08:02 PM PDT by q_an_a
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To: Shermy
"a man of Iraqi nationality after a series of letters containing a nerve gas ingredient were sent to the prime minister's office and the U.S. and British embassies. "

---

I think I read in one of the earlier articles (before they identified the perpetrator)that some of the ingredients were NOT readily available. Now we have an Iraqi guy with hard to get nerve gas ingredients.

Maybe we should look in Belgium for Saddam's WMD...
18 posted on 06/05/2003 4:53:45 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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