Pakistani Police Detain Two Men in Anthrax Probe

09/05/2001| IslamWeb

KARACHI (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Police in Pakistan's port city of Karachi said Sunday they had detained two men for questioning over a suspected case of anthrax spores delivered to the country's most popular Urdu-language daily.
The two men, who have not been charged, ran an educational welfare trust and had sent a press release to the Daily Jang newspaper, a police official said.
The newspaper said white powder found in the press release's envelope had tested positive for anthrax, but a government statement issued late Friday expressed doubts over the case, saying the hospital that did the tests lacked sufficient expertise.
The government has ordered health authorities to collect samples of the white powder in the Daily Jang letter and run further tests. It takes at least three days to get a result.
Pakistan has appeared confused about reported anthrax attacks, issuing several different statements about the official number of confirmed cases.
The country's science and technology minister said Friday there had been one confirmed case, while three cases in which private laboratories had returned positive results were being examined by the state.
A spate of recent anthrax attacks in the United States, in which at least four people have died and 13 others contracted the disease, sparked fears the deadly bacteria was being used as a biological weapon.
The anthrax panic has sparked a string of hoaxes and false alarms in different countries.