Man Faces Jail Time in Genoa Bioterror Hoax

Five people were taken to hospital in Genoa on Saturday for precautionary tests after handling a suspicious letter that contained white powder and threats of biological terrorism, but police said it was a hoax.

The man who caused a national alarm gave himself up to police, saying he intended the matter to be a joke. He now risks a six-month jail term.

Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said: “We have reason to believe that this is a hoax, not chemical terrorism but an atrocious joke by some idiot criminal.�

Police said five people, including two civilians and three policemen, were tested at the San Martino hospital in the northwestern port city as a precaution.

Meanwhile in Brussels, the Belgian government announced Saturday that suspicious envelopes containing white or brown powder had been received at six addresses in the country but that initial tests for anthrax were negative.