The Judicial Police (PJ) is investigating the origin of several letters with a suspicious white powder inside letters sent, this Monday, to Portuguese sovereign bodies – such as the Presidency and Parliament.
Throughout the day on Monday, several sovereign institutions and bodies received envelopesno sender, green mail and Lisbon stamp with a “suspicious” white powder.
According to , those targeted were Presidency and the Assembly of the Republicthe presidency of the Council of Ministers, the ministries of Internal Administration, Infrastructure and Housing, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority and some State services in the new Campus XXI building (the new seat of government).
The CM also added that the dust – which authorities indicated was harmless – was accompanied by the same message in Portuguese and “claims personal to all recipients”.
According to , the preliminary analysis by Sapadores de Lisboa concluded that the powder in question is pudding powder for cooking.
The PJ said in a statement that “in view of the facts, it is investigating, in close coordination with the Public Security Police (PSP) and the National Republican Guard (GNR), the origin of the various subscriptions sent, with identical missive and content ”.
“The investigation aims to identify the origin and authorship of the letters, as well as the nature of the substance included in them,” said the PJ in the statement.
The national management of the PSP also reported in a statement that “today, at 2:40 pm, it responded to several calls for sending suspicious envelopesparticularly for some sovereign bodies and public entities”.
The PSP said that, through the Explosive Inactivation and Underground Security Center of the Special Police Unit and the Lisbon Metropolitan Command, “it immediately reacted with specialized teams, trained and qualified for this type of threat, having had the collaboration of National Republican Guard, the Judiciary Police and the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM)”.
There was no material damage or personal injury to be recorded, the PSP highlighted.
