Suspicious packages sent from Hong Kong to Canadian courthouses under investigation

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Suspicious packages sent from Hong Kong to Canadian courthouses under investigation

Parcels from HK have prompted police action and court evacuations

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 10 May, 2015, 5:23am
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 May, 2015, 5:23am

Bryan Harris [email protected]

Four court clerks in Nova Scotia were admitted to hospital following the arrival of a letter postmarked from the SAR.

Hong Kong has become the focus of an international investigation into a mystery campaign of postal threats that has seen courthouses across Canada targeted with suspicious packages.

More than two dozen suspect parcels - many bearing Hong Kong postage marks - have been sent to courts across the country in recent weeks, prompting evacuations and the deployment of special police hazardous materials teams.

In one instance last week, four court clerks in Nova Scotia were admitted to hospital after complaining of nausea, dizziness and burning in the throat following the arrival of a letter postmarked from the SAR.

None of Canada's major cities have been targeted in the campaign, which has focused on small-town courthouses.

The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong confirmed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were working on the investigation with local detectives, but declined to give any further details of what they said was an "ongoing investigation".

On Friday, the provincial justice ministry in Saskatchewan in central Canada said it had turned over three suspicious packages sent from Hong Kong to the police. The same day, police in eastern Prince Edward Island announced they had confiscated a Hong Kong-postmarked package addressed to the chief judge of the province. Law enforcement in the province later said the parcel was not a threat and had contained only documents.

Clement Lai Kai-chi, a former police superintendent and founder of the police counter-terrorism unit in Hong Kong, said very careful investigation would have to be undertaken to determine whether the issue was a terrorist or criminal case. The campaign could be conducted by a criminal out to cause disruption rather than a terrorist on a religious or political mission, he said.

Hong Kong police have declined to comment, but the investigation follows a pledge by the new police commissioner, Stephen Lo Wai-chung, that terrorism would be a policing priority under his watch.

According to Lai, the comments by commissioner Lo last week related to the international terrorism threat, not a specific danger facing Hong Kong. "We need to be prepared," said Lai. "Hong Kong is a very open market, where people come and go with no trouble. We're blessed nothing has happened."

Canada has also moved to crack down on the perceived threat of terrorism.

A day after Lo's comments on Tuesday, the parliament in Ottawa approved a controversial anti-terror act.

The bill, which follows an attack on the parliament last October by a lone gunman, is set to allow the country's spy agency to operate overseas and make preventative arrests.