An envelope suspected of containing explosive material was intercepted on Thursday at the US embassy in Madrid, bringing the number of similar letters identified in Spain to six, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.
The envelope was detected around 12:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. in Lisbon) and the corresponding security protocol was activated, with a police device sent to the area of the US embassy building, indicated the same source.
The Secretary of State for Security of the Spanish Government had confirmed this morning the identification of five envelopes with explosives in the last week, sent to the President of the Government, the Ukrainian embassy, the Minister of Defense, a satellite center and an arms company .
“Both the characteristics of the envelopes and the content”, material and substances commonly used in fireworks, “are similar in all five cases”, said the Secretary of State, Rafael Pérez, at a press conference in Madrid.
The envelope sent to the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, was intercepted last week, on November 24, and the rest were identified on Wednesday and today.
A man was injured this Wednesday without seriousness at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid due to the explosion of the device that was inside the envelope.
In other cases, the explosive material was deactivated or a controlled detonation was carried out.
The Secretary of State said that it was necessary to wait for the analyzes and studies “of various kinds” carried out by police experts, and for the judicial investigations to become known and reveal more details.
Rafael Pérez insisted on a “message of tranquility” to the population and guaranteed the preparation and professionalism of the Spanish security forces to deal with this type of case.
In addition, he reiterated that the security and protection measures of all public buildings and diplomatic representations in Spain have been reinforced and said that, for the moment, there are no reasons “to convene the group to assess the level of anti-terrorism alert.”
The Secretary of State also refused to reveal whether the Spanish authorities are aware of similar cases in other European countries “that have helped Ukraine.”
The Instalaza company, in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon region (northeast Spain), recipient of one of the envelopes with explosives, produces military equipment that was sent by Spain to Ukraine, to support the Ukrainian armed forces, shortly after the beginning of the Russian attack, on February 24.
Source: TSF
