Government of the Federated States of Micronesia

Anthrax Hoax in FSM

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): December 29, 2008 – On December 23rd the Governors’ Offices of Yap and Kosrae received letters with a suspicious white powder folded inside a piece of paper that had “WE ARE ALQUAEDA FBI” printed in capital letters.

The letters were both postmarked from Texas. In Kosrae, the administration building was evacuated and they called the U.S. Embassy in Pohnpei, the National Police Department, and the Bioterrorism office looking for advice on what to do. The Chief of National Police, Mr. Pius Chotailug, sent out an email and explained that a large number of such letters were mailed to Governor’s offices throughout the U.S., as well as several U.S. embassies worldwide. Lab testing on these envelopes had shown that none of the letters contained any hazardous materials. The FBI issued a Terrorist Threat Alert and Advisory Message on December 17th that detailed the extent of the mailings and the negative findings for lab testings. Chief Chotailug outlined a procedure on how to deal with receiving suspicious letters and urged everyone to take these incidents seriously. Because of the vacation holidays, we do not know if the Chuuk and Pohnpei State Governor’s offices received these letters, but both offices have been alerted by the National Police.