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Ricin laden letter addressed to Obama intercepted – Secret Service
Officials said Thursday that a suspicious letter mailed to the White House was similar to two threatening, poison-laced letters about the gun control debate that were sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the nation’s most potent gun-control advocates.
The letter was addressed to the president and was intercepted at a White House mail screening facility, the Secret Service said. Two similar letters sent to Bloomberg in New York and his gun control group in Washington contained traces of ricin.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Obama letter intercepted Wednesday contained ricin. It was turned over to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for testing and investigation.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday that all three letters apparently came from the same machine or computer.
The postal workers union, citing information it got in a Postal Service briefing, said the letters bore a Shreveport, Louisiana, postmark. Kelly would not comment on the origin.
“The Shreveport letters are separate from this Spokane investigation,” FBI spokeswoman Dietrich said in an emailed response to questions from reporters.
About a month ago, letters containing ricin were addressed to Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. One of the letters postmarked in Memphis, Tennessee, was traced back to Tupelo, Mississippi, and a Mississippi man was arrested.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
