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OTTAWA (CP) - Fear of a terrorist attack involving anthrax-laced cargo has prompted the federal government to explore the purchase of custom-tailored biological agent detectors. The contraband detection section of Canada's customs agency has invited companies to pitch products capable of screening containers and other shipments for toxic biological substances. A notice posted by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency says the portable equipment would preferably weigh less than 28 kilograms, work in extreme temperatures and be able to quickly extract air samples from containers, packages and vehicle trunks. The aim of the $10,000 pilot project is to evaluate various...

Egyptian ship suspected of carrying anthrax for terror attack TABATINGA, Brazil - Brazilian police were "90-per-cent" sure that a death on an Egyptian cargo ship was caused by a load of anthrax that was to be used in terrorist attacks, news reports said Monday. An Egyptian sailor on board, Ibrahim Saed Ibrahim, died April 11 in Para in northern Brazil from hemorrhaging believed to be caused by the bacteria, Brazil's Forensics Medicine Institute said. He was believed to have breathed in anthrax spores when he opened a suitcase on the ship. The craft stopped in Brazil on its way to...

HALIFAX (CP) - An officer who died aboard a ship now quarantined off the coast of Nova Scotia had anthrax bacilli in his system, but Brazilian officials have yet to determine if the lethal bacteria caused his death. A specialist with the Brazilian Health Department said Friday the bacilli were discovered in the unidentified man's body after he died while the ship was sailing in Brazilian waters. However, a conclusive autopsy report had yet to be completed. "The bacilli of anthrax was found in his body," Carlos Lopes said in an interview from Brasilia, the capital of the South American...

— BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian medical officials on Tuesday ruled out anthrax as the cause of death of Egyptian sailor, easing concerns about a merchant vessel that had been quarantined off the Atlantic coast of Canada. Officials in Brazil and Canada found no evidence of anthrax after conducting a second examination of the man's body and doing tests on the ship, although they still do not know what killed the sailor. Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim was found dead in his cabin on the ship on April 11, a few days after arriving in Brazil by plane from Cairo, according...

Health Canada awaits anthrax ship results Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press Health Canada officials looking into whether a ship quarantined off the coast of Nova Scotia contains traces of deadly anthrax are awaiting test results from swab samples. The results are expected from a lab in Halifax late Monday or Tuesday, Health Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Tramble told globeandmail.com on Monday. The results will indicate whether or not there is any trace of anthrax on the ship. The ship would be released if it was cleared of anthrax or any other communicable disease. The Egyptian vessel was placed under...

Federal officials are preparing to place an Egyptian ship under quarantine following the death of the vessel's first mate from the bacterial disease anthrax, Le Soleil reports today. The Wadi Al Arab left Brazil earlier this week after it dropped off the body of a deceased crew member, said the Quebec City newspaper. The ship was scheduled to drop off a load of bauxite at an Alcan aluminum plant in Saguenay, Que., but it has been diverted to Halifax. The Wadi Al Arab was still outside Canadian waters last night. Officials with Health Canada, the RCMP and Transport Canada were...

An Egyptian sailor who died in Brazil of a suspected case of anthrax aboard a merchant ship now quarantined outside Halifax Harbour was carrying a bag to a friend in Canada, say Brazilian police. They alerted Interpol about the potentially contaminated package Ibrahim Sayed Soliman Ibrahim was carrying on the Wadi Alarab, said Neder Duarte, federal police chief of the city of Belem in Brazil’s northern state of Para. “Maybe he had opened the luggage and then had problems with anthrax,” Duarte told The Daily News yesterday. Brazilian police are investigating the case to determine if Ibrahim was somehow involved...

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - A crew member of an Egyptian merchant ship has died in northern Brazil, almost certainly from anthrax, after opening a suitcase suspected of containing the substance which he was taking to Canada. A spokesman for Brazilian federal police in the Amazon state of Para said on Monday an autopsy of the Egyptian man, whom he named as Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim, showed that he had died after vomiting, internal bleeding and multiple organ failure. "He was the victim of anthrax," said Castro, adding that police were 90 percent certain that Ibrahim had died of anthrax. Ibrahim...