ISRAEL - Police examine powder found on El Al plane

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Tuesday October 16, 2:34 AM

Israeli police examine powder found on El Al plane

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli authorities on Monday conducted anthrax tests on a suspicious powder found on an El Al plane and on a number of letters amid concerns that a U.S. anthrax outbreak could spread.

A spokesman for the state-run national airline said an employee noticed an "undetermined substance" in the lower hold of an El Al cargo plane after the aircraft was unloaded and reloaded at Tel Aviv airport following a flight from Europe.

Police were called and took samples of the power. The area was cleaned, the plane was reloaded and later took off. There was no immediate word on the results of the police testing of the substance.

"Because of the situation, everyone is taking precautions," said the spokesman for El Al, widely regarded as the world's most security-conscious airline.

Manwhile, police were called to examine more than a dozen letters received by Israelis in recent days that bore suspicious signs such as too much postage paid or an unknown sender, a police spokesman said.

He said the letters had been sent to the government's biological laboratory for testing.

Three U.S. states have been affected by an outbreak of anthrax, raising fears the United States was the target of germ warfare. Many Americans have begun stockpiling antibiotics.

The number of Americans who have tested positive for exposure to the disease after receiving contaminated letters has reached double figures since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001


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