Suspicious packages sent from Hong Kong to Canadian courthouses under investigation
Parcels from HK have prompted police action and court evacuations
Hong Kong has become the focus of an international investigation into a mystery campaign of postal threats that has seen courthouses across Canada targeted with suspicious packages.
More than two dozen suspect parcels - many bearing Hong Kong postage marks - have been sent to courts across the country in recent weeks, prompting evacuations and the deployment of special police hazardous materials teams.
In one instance last week, four court clerks in Nova Scotia were admitted to hospital after complaining of nausea, dizziness and burning in the throat following the arrival of a letter postmarked from the SAR.
None of Canada's major cities have been targeted in the campaign, which has focused on small-town courthouses.
The Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong confirmed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were working on the investigation with local detectives, but declined to give any further details of what they said was an "ongoing investigation".
On Friday, the provincial justice ministry in Saskatchewan in central Canada said it had turned over three suspicious packages sent from Hong Kong to the police. The same day, police in eastern Prince Edward Island announced they had confiscated a Hong Kong-postmarked package addressed to the chief judge of the province. Law enforcement in the province later said the parcel was not a threat and had contained only documents.
