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CNN Saturday Morning News

Investigators in New Jersey Seek Origin of Anthrax-Laced Letters

Aired October 20, 2001 - 09:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators in New Jersey are backtracking the path of anthrax-laced letters. They are looking for clues to the origin of those letters, postmarked in Trenton and mailed to Capitol Hill and NBC News.

CNN's Brian Palmer joins us from Ewing, New Jersey, with the very latest -- Brian.

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Martin.

We are indeed in Ewing Township, New Jersey, where postal carriers are gathering for work behind me even though the building is closed. So it's not exactly business as usual, but they will be going out on their rounds today.

This is a workplace of a letter carrier, a female letter carrier who was diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax, that's the less serious form of the disease, anthrax of the skin. Now, there's the additional case that was announced yesterday of a mail sorter in Hamilton, New Jersey, which is about 20 minutes away from here. Both of those folks are being treated with antibiotics.

Now, investigators yesterday were in this neighborhood, in Ewing, retracing the steps of that female letter carrier. She delivered mail, she serviced about 250 homes and businesses in the area, the FBI telling us that they're taking samples from mailboxes, mail slots. She didn't service collection boxes, the blue boxes on the street.

But they say they're checking everything, they're taking samples, they're interviewing people.

Now, the postal workers themselves, the people in the Hamilton facility and this facility here, have been advised by the New Jersey Department of Health and Social Services to take a seven-day precautionary course of Cipro. We caught up with two postal workers at the local convenience store, one of whom says, yes, he's taking the precautionary course of Cipro, but another one who says he's not particularly concerned, and he's not taking Cipro. So a mix of attitudes here -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Brian, where does the investigation go next? What'll happen later today? PALMER: Well, we talked both with the FBI and the United States postal inspectors. The FBI says they're going to continue pretty much doing what they did yesterday, interviewing people, retracing the steps of this postal carrier. The U.S. postal inspectors wouldn't really comment directly on the investigation except to tell us that they're reviewing videotapes from the 46 branches and stations in the Trenton area, and they were telling us that yesterday alone, they checked out 600 incidents of suspicious mail nationwide.

They also say that they've arrested three people for anthrax- related mail hoaxes in New Jersey, Delaware, and in Oregon -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Brian Palmer joining us from Ewing, New Jersey, thank you very much.

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