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Anthrax destined for Canada, Brazil says
Update, EFLCanadian investigators played down reports yesterday that an Egyptian who died from a suspected case of anthrax was carrying a package destined for Canada that might have contained the lethal bacteria. RCMP Inspector Dan Tanner dismissed media claims originating in Brazil that suggest the deceased was given a piece of luggage in Egypt to take to someone in Canada before he travelled to Brazil to join a ship Canada has quarantined off Nova Scotia. "I can assure you we've discovered no threat to Canada, criminally or terrorism-wise," Tanner said yesterday in Halifax. ``Right now it's just a story." But RCMP in Ottawa said they were trying to get more information on the claims by Brazilian officials investigating the man's death on April 11. Fernando Sergio Castro, a spokesperson for Brazilian federal police, told Reuters that the man in his 50s, identified as Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim, was given a suitcase in Cairo to be delivered to someone in Canada. Word that he opened the suitcase and was well before boarding his ship came from crewmates and health authorities, respectively. He had a standard health check before he boarded the ship. The body, the bag and all his belongings are in police hands in the Amazonian port of Belem. The Brazilian cops have the bag, that answers yesterday's big question. Results of a second conclusive autopsy by Brazilian health authorities in Brasilia were expected today. Brazil having a big cattle industry, I suspect they have experience with anthrax deaths. Once they determine if that is indeed what he died of and there are any containers of powder or liquid in the bag, then we can call this a terror incident. Until then, it's only a guess. Posted by: Steve 2003-04-29 |
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