BOMB DISPOSAL experts defused an explosive package at the Greek embassy in Rome yesterday, days after parcel bomb attacks claimed by an Italian anarchist group wounded two people at the Swiss and Chilean missions.
Police said the bomb at the Greek embassy resembled those which exploded in Rome last week, injuring an employee at the Chilean embassy and also hurting a Swiss embassy staff member.
“The package was similar to the ones at the other embassies,” Maurizio Mezzavilla, an official of the carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police, told reporters outside the embassy, and said that anarchist involvement “could not be ruled out”.
Authorities were on high alert following last week’s attacks and there were several false alarms as mailroom staff coming back from the Christmas break worked through the post.
Police were called to the Venezuelan, Danish, Monaco, Kuwaiti and Albanian embassies and the Finnish embassy to the Vatican but found harmless parcels. However, the discovery at the Greek mission highlighted a real threat.
“A suspect package arrived; we immediately informed the carabinieri who arrived immediately and neutralised the bomb,” Michael Campanis, the Greek ambassador to Italy, told reporters. “We had not received any threats previously. The packet arrived on Friday afternoon when the embassy was already closed,” he said. – (Reuters)