Washington - The US Justice Department Wednesday unsealed
hundreds of court documents relating to a government scientist
believed responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks that
terrified the nation.
The documents detail an extensive series of search warrants for
the properties of Bruce Ivins, who reportedly committed suicide last
week when informed that he was to be indicted for the anthrax-laced
mailings sent only weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.
Ivins, 62, worked as an anthrax researcher at the government's
elite bio-defence laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland. He had never
been officially named as a suspect, but the court documents reveal
that search warrants for his property were issued as early as October
2007.
Letters containing anthrax were sent to media outlets and members
of Congress in September and October 2001, killing five people and
infecting at least 22 others. Nobody has been charged in the case.
According to the court documents, at the time of those mailings,
Ivins owned a 'large flask of highly purified anthrax spores that
possess certain genetic mutations identical to the anthrax used in
the attacks.'
Ivins also provided investigators with false samples of anthrax
from his laboratory and could not provide an 'adequate explanation'
of his work at the lab on the nights the letters were sent.
Ivins died last week from a a large dose of prescription Tylenol
mixed with codeine, according to media reports.
Until last week, the only publicly known link to the anthrax case
had been one of Ivins' colleagues. Steven Hatfill, who was cleared of
any involvement, won a 5.8- million settlement from the Justice
Department after his name was leaked to the media as a 'person of
interest.'
USA
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