It's after the end of the war on terror: Eighteen U.S. embassies get suspicious packages

NICOSIA -- U.S. embassies have been receiving packages with envelopes containing white powder.

Officials said the envelopes arrived at 18 embassies since Dec. 8 in what appeared to be an organized effort.

"So far, it seems to be a way of testing our responses," an official said. "The packages have not contained any dangerous substances."

On Dec. 22, a suspicious package arrived at the U.S. embassy in the Republic of Cyprus, Middle East Newsline reported. Greek Cypriot authorities arrived and collected the envelope to test for toxins. "We discovered a suspicious package which had arrived in the mail," U.S. embassy spokesman James Ellickson-Brown said.

So far, the suspicious envelopes were sent to U.S. embassies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In late December, packages arrived at the American embassies in Japan and the Czech Republic.

Officials said the State Department has conducted drills for embassy staffers who find suspicious packages. They said the measures were instituted in wake of anthrax-laced envelopes sent to American politicians in 2001. Five people were killed.

"The work has been done," Ellickson-Brown said of the latest incident in Nicosia. "The package is no longer here at the embassy."

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