Posted on 12/29/2003 11:35:41 AM PST by knak
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A letter bomb was intercepted on Monday at the Dutch headquarters of the European Union's police agency, Europol, and was deactivated before it caused any damage.
The letter bomb was the third sent to prominent EU figures or bodies in three days.
"The letter bomb was delivered at the Europol head office in The Hague but their staff was suspicious about it," spokeswoman Astrid Rijsdorp of the public prosecutor's office in The Hague told Reuters.
"They warned the bomb squad who defused it in time and nobody got injured," she said.
Rijsdorp said police were investigating the device but declined to give further details.
Europol is the EU's law enforcement organization that handles criminal intelligence and assists authorities in EU states in their fight against serious forms of organized crime.
The letter bomb was intercepted the same day European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was sent a suspected letter bomb, and a parcel exploded in the hands of European Commission President Romano Prodi on Saturday.
The letter addressed to Trichet was apparently sent from the Italian city of Bologna where Prodi lives, a police spokesman said. It was discovered in the post room at the Frankfurt-based central bank mid-morning on Monday, he said.
Prodi, a former Italian prime minister, said he opened the parcel very carefully on Saturday after "recent warnings," apparently in reference to two small home-made bombs that exploded in rubbish bins near his home on December 22.
Who knew?
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