As several high-profile U.S. leaders and citizens have recently been targeted with packages containing pipe bombs, the Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Agency advises residents on the signs of a suspicious package. According to the National Explosives Task Force package bombs include letters, parcels, and anything delivered by postal or courier service and can be triggered when victims handle or open the package or can be initiated in other ways.
Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf tells Raccoon Valley Radio the warning signs for a suspicious package, “Well some of the things that you want to look for with suspect mail or packages is something to where there’s excessive postage on it just an outlandish amount of postage to make sure it gets there. Receiving things that don’t have a return address on them of course. Take a look at your name and the address and things that are on the envelope and make sure that it’s addressed, the spelling’s correct things like that. Of course things from a foreign country that you aren’t expecting to receive should be things that you would want to be suspicious of.”
If you do encounter a suspicious letter or package, do not handle the package, isolate it immediately with something like a waste basket. Don’t open, smell, or taste what’s in the package, be sure to wash your hands with soap and water, and call 911.