Greek police say a suspicious package addressed to Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and found on board a private mail courier company plane is being examined at Bologna airport.
The package comes after a wave of mail bombs were sent to foreign embassies in Greece and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office.
Police spokesman Athanassios Kokalakis says the plane took off from Athens airport at about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT) Tuesday and was to head to Paris and Liege. He said the suspicious package was detected and the plane landed in Bologna in Italy, where experts were examining it.
Suspected Greek terrorists unleashed an unprecedented two-day wave of mail bombs with blasts at the Russian and Swiss embassies in Athens and at international organizations. German authorities destroying a bomb sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
By Tuesday evening, at least 11 mail bombs had been detected in the Greek capital – one addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and eight to the embassies of Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Chile, the Netherlands and Belgium. Two more were destroyed in controlled explosions at the Athens airport – one addressed to the European Union’s highest court in Luxembourg and the other to law enforcement agency Europol in the Netherlands.
The campaign used small devices that only caused one injury and minimal damage. But it highlights the difficulty of keeping bombs out of the international delivery system – also a target of Yemen-based militants armed with more powerful and potentially deadly explosives.
It was unclear whether the bomb sent to Germany was delivered by land or air. If sent by air, it would highlight the potential limitations of air cargo security that remain, despite the concern triggered by the mail bombs dispatched recently from Yemen .
“If they have been flown, then it rather begs the question whether European freight air security is up to muster at all,” said UK-based aviation security consultant Chris Yates. But transportation industry officials also said there are few if any security checks on packages transported within the European Union by road or rail.
“Once they’re in Europe, the goods are free to move around,” said Robert Windsor, manager of trade services at the British International Freight Association.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the package that arrived Tuesday at Merkel’s office was sent from Greece two days earlier by UPS delivery and resembled the Athens packages. He described it as a package that appeared to be a book.
The news agency DAPD reported the package contained a pipe filled with black powder. Sarkozy said French authorities were working with Greek police.
“The threat is very serious. We are extremely vigilant and I am following it very closely,” Sarkozy said in London, where he was meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Packages addressed to embassies and state leaders were not likely to reach their intended targets, said Andrew Silke, Director Terrorism Studies at the University of East London.
But the bombers probably achieved their aim by generating worldwide publicity. No connection has been made to the mail bombs from Yemen that were found on aircraft in Britain and Dubai, and Greek authorities are focusing on domestic groups.
