More tests ordered on powder-laced letters

[October 22, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal investigators say they are running additional tests on letters laced with a suspicious powder that were sent Chase Bank branches and federal regulatory offices in nine cities.

The FBI said initial tests on more than 30 such letters Tuesday turned up negative for poisonous or otherwise dangerous toxins. Authorities said the incident was being investigated as a first, if extreme, public backlash over the nation's financial crisis.

An FBI spokesman in Oklahoma, where eight letters turned up, said local preliminary assessments showed the powder was harmless calcium. Authorities say they are focusing on possible suspects near Amarillo, Texas, where the letters were postmarked.

[Associated Press]

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