FBI Searches Apartment in Connection With Anthrax Probe
 |
|
FBI searched apartment and trash bins of a former Fort Detrick Army scientist for clues to the anthrax attacks late last year |
WASHINGTON,
Aug 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) agents searched Thursday, August 1, the apartment
of a scientist at the Fort Detrick, Maryland military laboratory as
part of the probe of s-by-mail attacks that killed five people late
last year, a bureau spokesperson said.
"We
are on the scene and we are conducting an investigation," said
spokeswoman Debbie Weiermann. "No arrest has been made," she
added.
It
is the second search of the apartment, which is adjacent to Fort
Detrick, of former Army scientist, Steven Hatfill, who has worked with
biological agents including anthrax on a regular basis since 1999.
Thursday's
search, which included rummaging through trash bins outside
Hatfill’s apartment, was being conducted with a search warrant. The
first search in late June had been consensual, reports CNN.
He
had access to a strain of the bacteria identical to the one used in
the attacks.
Hatfill,
49, who has a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology, is one of some 20-30
researchers in whom investigators have taken an interest.
CNN
television, citing police sources, said Hatfield was being considered
a "potential suspect."
But
the FBI spokeswoman stressed: "I would not label him as that.
That's not according to us," as a second FBI official said
Hatfill was not being questioned and had not been detained, reports
news agencies.
Anthrax
attacks left five people dead and another 13 infected between October
5 and November 21.
Anthrax-laced
letters were sent through the mail to members of Congress in
Washington and to television network offices in New York. The letters
- leaking anthrax spores - contaminated post office buildings in
Washington and New Jersey, reports CNN.
Investigators
have said they believed a scientist with access to a laboratory,
residing on U.S. territory and well versed in handling anthrax,
carried out the crimes.
ABC
television reported there were a number of factors that put
authorities on Hatfill's trail other than his scientific
qualifications.
Among
them was the fact that he lived in Africa, near the city of Greendale
while studying in Zimbabwe. On one of the anthrax envelopes, the false
return address was Greendale Elementary School.
Hatfill
previously worked for the Army Medical Institute of Infectious
Disease, center of the nation's biological warfare defense research,
reports news agencies.
Fort
Detrick, about 40 miles northwest of Washington, DC, houses the U.S.
Army's bioweapons research facility, where workers there had done
experiments with anthrax.
|
