A police officer called to the scene of an anthrax scare in Claremont opened the envelope containing white powder and sniffed at it on Wednesday morning - before pronouncing: "This is baby powder."
Clarence Tshitereke, liaison officer for the Institute of Security Studies, said he found a small envelope in his postbox on Wednesday.
It contained a piece of paper with the message: "What do you wish for - Death or Anthrax?"
The letter, which had a skull and crossbones and a dollar sign on it, contained a white powder. The powder got onto Tshitereke's hands, jacket, pants and shoes.
| 'What do you wish for - Death or Anthrax?' |
Shortly after having had several tests, he said, "I thought this was a joke, but after the incidents of the past two weeks in America, I decided to report it to the police."
Tshitereke called the police, but after receiving no quick response he decided to go to the Claremont police station.
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He stood at the counter for 10 minutes before he got the attention of the police in the charge office.
He explained his problem, but the police officer did not know anything about anthrax. "I went outside and called Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the Scorpions. He called me after two minutes and told me to return to my flat."
One of two police officers who arrived opened the envelope and sniffed at it.
| Lack of knowledge police had about anthrax |
A police area commissioner accompanied by another top police official came to Tshitereke's flat, took the envelope, sealed it in another plastic bag and told him they would take it for forensic tests.
"I shivered throughout the night after I received several calls instructing me not to move from the flat until I had been tested."
Tshitereke said he was concerned about the lack of knowledge police had about anthrax. "At first I didn't blame them as I thought that some of them were not aware of what was going on. But now I seriously think that they need to be trained."
Tshitereke said sending him the envelope had been a sick joke.
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