US authorities investigating letters containing "suspicious substances"
United States federal authorities have said they are investigating "potentially hazardous" letters containing "suspicious substances" that have been sent to congressional and state election offices around the US.
The BBC reports that the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service said they were trying to trace the "suspicious mailings", some of which were intercepted before they were received. Authorities did not say how many offices had been targeted, but several secretaries of state and congressional offices reported receiving the letters.
The suspicious letters were sent to at least five Democratic senators' offices, most of which were intercepted before delivery. These included California's Alex Padilla, Connecticut's Chris Murphy and New York's Kirsten Gillibrand, according to the BBC.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Delaware Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester were also sent the suspicious pieces of mail, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.
State offices in Delaware, Oklahoma and Louisiana all said that their offices had received letters containing a white powder, while the Ohio secretary of state Frank LaRose said his office was the intended recipient of a letter containing white powder, but the United States Postal Inspection Service had intercepted it.
The suspicious mailings come just weeks before the US mid-term elections. Vote officials in 17 states received suspicious packages in 2024, while suspicious envelopes, some laced with fentanyl, were sent to election offices in at least five states a year earlier.
