Police Seek Source of Suspicious Packages
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Police are working to trace the source of several suspicious packages sent to financial institutions over the past two days, police officials said.
The packages, which contained ziplock bags that in some cases were filled with flour or cornstarch, were sent to companies in three Midtown buildings, police said.
“None of the material tested so far has tested positive for any dangerous substance,” the police department’s head spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, said in a statement.
The packages sent to the financial institutions, whose names were not released by police officials, arrived in envelopes postmarked Hartford, Conn. Along with the powder-filled plastic bags, the envelopes contained greeting cards with no threats or messages of any kind, Mr. Browne said.
Investigators are still testing the powder, which the companies handed over to police by the companies, but it appears the threat was a hoax. If so, it would mark the second time in two months that financial institutions have received false terrorist threats.
In June, several newspapers in the New York area received letters threatening the lives of employees at the investment bank Goldman Sachs from an anonymous sender who claimed to have infiltrated the company. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later determined the letters were a hoax.
The suspicious packages began arriving on Monday at 1345 Sixth Ave., 787 Seventh Ave., and 505 Fifth Ave., home to a number of financial companies. Investigators were not informed about the packages until yesterday, police said.
