Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A suspicious white powder was sent to Belgium’s Interior Ministry, the fourth such incident in weeks.
A letter holding a suspicious white powder reached the Interior Ministry in Brussels on 9 Dec 2024. This is the fourth registered case of a letter having white powder delivered to official government buildings in recent weeks.
Fire brigade representative Walter Derieuw confirmed that the Interior Ministry had received an envelope containing an unidentified substance.
“Three people are in isolation and Civil Protection is on its way,”
he stated.
“The isolated people have no symptoms.”
Earlier, in November 2024 similar letter containing suspicious powder was discovered at the State Security offices in Brussels.
“A suspicious letter was found this morning while sorting mail,”
stated Peter Gorlé, spokesperson for State Security.
The police, fire brigade and civil protection are on the scene at their offices on the Boulevard Albert II in Brussels.
“All procedures for such a situation have been followed, the room has been closed and the employee who came into contact with the letter has been quarantined and taken to hospital,”
Gorlé said.
This is the fourth such incident in recent weeks. In late November, two such envelopes were delivered on the same day: one to the Interior Minister’s Office and another to Belgium‘s State Security offices. Two days later, a third was dispatched to the Prime Minister’s Office. One person was hospitalised but did not seem to have been contaminated. It is not yet obvious whether there is a link between the incidents, nor is it known what was in the letters. According to sources close to the investigation, at least one envelope possessed rat poison.
