Anthrax Tainted Letter Discovered...by Accident !

The Star Ledger | 08/16/03 | vanity

[genefromjersey]

An anthrax-tainted letter-probably cross-contaminated during the anthrax attacks of September/October 2001,was discovered this week in an FBI evidence locker in Arkansas, where it had been stored since April,2002.

Agents came upon the letter,which had been sealed in a protective bag,while cleaning out the evidence locker,and,because it had anthrax investigation markings, decided to have it tested by Arkansas health officials before forwarding it to the Newark, NJ office.

A swab test of the letter turned out positive, and the letter was then sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which confirmed the Arkansas findings, and which is doing further tests to identify the anthrax strain.

Authorities believe the letter, which has an October9,2001-Trenton,NJ postmark,passed through the Hamilton,NJ regional processing center at the same time as the "anthrax letters": acquiring a taint as a result.

At some undisclosed point, after the mailings had been traced back to the Hamilton facility, Postal Inspectors and FBI agents made an effort to locate and check out other mail processed through that facility on or near that date, and succeeded in tracking down the letter referred to, and in retrieving it from its recipient, in Beebe, Arkansas.

Details of the letter were forwarded to the Newark office of the FBI, and, pending further instructions, the letter was triple bagged for safety, and placed in the evidence safe.

I note nobody seems to have asked how many other letters were "retrieved",and the Bureau is not volunteering the information.Reason for this line of inquiry was,to be charitable,vague.

[TrebleRebel]

anthrax ping

[Beck_isright]

I'm so relieved to know that our Homeland Security boys are on top of things. </coughing up blood sarcasm off

[Lucy Lake]

Ping.

[LibKill]

And some people wonder why I bitch about paying taxes.

[FairOpinion]

It makes you wonder what other important stuff they misplaced and have forgotten about?

I guess they are too busy trailing Hatfill, to actually look at the evidence.

It's been almost TWO years since the Anthrax attacks!

[FairOpinion]

ping

[ThirdMate]

How can the G-men track down a letter that went through a post office before the alarm was raised? Are they scanning or photgraphing every piece of mail that goes through the system?
Do I understand this article correctly? After it was realized that the anthrax letters passed through Hamilton, they were able to track down mail that had previously been processed? This is weird.

[genefromjersey]

By the way, if someone knows exactly how a piece of mail, originating in Princeton,NJ would reach Boca Raton, Florida, I would appreciate the input.

I don't need web pages or accusations against whoever. Just facts: for example- goes from Princeton to mail center in Hamilton Twp., NJ. Goes from Hamilton via _____ to______;and from there by ______ to Boca Raton.

I realize 99% of what is going to be posted will be comments about the FBI, etc.,and that You Know Who will post thinly veiled accusations against certain Freeper names; but the exact postal routing would be appreciated. Thanks !

[Moonman62]

I'm so relieved to know that our Homeland Security boys are on top of things.

They're really earning that extra hundred billion. Or is it 200 billion? I guess it really doesn't matter as long as it's the government's money.

[OldFriend]

Must be the same homeland security detail that never noticed three people wandering around Kennedy airport tarmac last week.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I wonder if one letter that was missed was the one that killed that nice old lady in Connecticut...and another missed letter which may have killed that woman in the Bronx who worked in a health related field.

[okie01]

Address your inquiry in #9 to muawiyah...

[csvset]

Another case for the Mueller Files.

[FairOpinion]

"Authorities believe the letter, which has an October9,2001-Trenton,NJ postmark,passed through the Hamilton,NJ regional processing center at the same time as the "anthrax letters": acquiring a taint as a result."

---

From an article in Nov. 2001:


The Brokaw and Post letters arrived at the Trenton, New Jersey, processing center, in Hamilton Township, on September 18 and had their postage canceled within three hours of each other. Still, officials could not say definitively whether the letters arrived together at the post office.

Those two letters passed through the same letter canceler, and a worker who did maintenance on that machine later contracted cutaneous anthrax.

The Daschle letter arrived in the Hamilton Township facility October 9 and was canceled at 5:45 p.m. It arrived October 11 at the Brentwood facility in Washington, where four postal workers contracted inhalation anthrax and two of them died.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/11/09/rec.fbi.anthrax.letter/

===

I am wondering that out of the thousands of letters that probabably passed through at the same time approximately, why did they save this one as evidence. Who was it from and to whom?

[Mo1]

Who was the letter addressed to?

[maestro]

Correct!!

And,......exactly,.....what is the full address and full 'return' address on this mystery letter...?

And,.....the written 'contents' of the letter...?

Clues for Gum Shoes?

[okie01]

"How can the G-men track down a letter that went through a post office before the alarm was raised? Are they scanning or photgraphing every piece of mail that goes through the system?"

If I am not mistaken, the scanner that reads and sorts by ZIP code maintains a log.

In reviewing the log, the authorities found a letter addressed to the lady's ZIP code in Connecticut had passed through the scanner immediately after the Leahy or Daschle letter.

I imagine the Beebe, AR letter -- as well as several others -- were also in the immediate vicinity of the anthrax letter and the alert went out.

[okie01]

Ping