Two customs agents sickened after suspicious package at JFK International Airport tests positive for 'VX nerve gas'
Mail sorting facility and Customs office were quarantined after discovery of suspicious package
Initial tests were positive for VX chemical nerve gas - a deadly nerve agent
Firefighters say test was likely false positive and substance is not actually chemical weapon
Operations at JFK airport were not disrupted
By
Michael Zennie
PUBLISHED: 12:27 EST, 11 August 2013 |
UPDATED: 14:43 EST, 11 August 2013
A
Postal Service mail sorting facility at New York's JFK International
Airport has been quarantined today after a suspicious package tested
positive for VX nerve gas.
Two
Customs agents were sicked Sunday morning after inhaling the strange
odor coming from the package, which unconfirmed reports indicate was
shipped to the United States from China.
Authorities
say it is unlikely that the substance in the package is actually the
deadly chemical weapon, but they are taking no chances.
Operations
at JFK International airport were not disrupted by the report of a
chemical nerve agent being discovered at a mail facility
The New York Postreports
that the Postal Service facility - which is responsible for sorting
international mail bound for the eastern U.S. - and a Customs office a
quarter mile away were both quarantined.
After
the Customs and Border Control agents were overcome, an initial test
revealed that the package contained 'chemical-grade weapons and nerve
gas.'
A
second test said the chemical was VX nerve gas, a deadly synthetic
chemical weapon that can be absorbed through the lungs or the skin.
Read More Here
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'Beauty
supplies and nothing further': False alarm at JFK airport as suspicious
package that tested positive for nerve gas turns out to be nail polish
remover
Mail sorting facility and Customs office were quarantined after discovery of suspicious package
Two workers suffered 'respiratory arrest'
The package, originating from China, likely contained a broken container of everyday nail polish remover
Initial tests were positive for VX chemical nerve gas - a deadly nerve agent
By
Michael Zennie
PUBLISHED: 12:27 EST, 11 August 2013 |
UPDATED: 19:26 EST, 11 August 2013
A
suspicious package at a JFK airport mail sorting facility caused a
brief scare and quarantine Sunday--and all because of a bag of
cosmetics.
The FBI says a package was tested after two customs workers reported they felt ill after opening it contained beauty supplies.
The package, which originated from China, was likely full of fumes due to a broken bottle of nail polish remover.
Panic:
New York HazMat teams and the FBI rushed to JFK airport Sunday after a
package in a mail sorting facility tested positive for deadly nerve gas
'The FBI screened and tested the employees and the package they opened,'
FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald said in a statement. 'The package in
question was determined to be beauty supplies and nothing further. The
scene has been cleared by FBI personnel.'
Donald said said agents have cleared the scene.
He said the employees and the package were tested and screened out of 'an abundance of caution.'
Tests initially came up positive for VX nerve gas, an extremely deadly chemical warfare agent.
Cosmetics:
An FBI official later called the incident a false alarm and that the
package contained only everyday cosmetics. Reports say the culprit was
likely a broken container of nail polish remover
No
hiccups: Operations at JFK International airport were not disrupted as
authorities swarmed two facilities after the positive test for VX nerve
gas
Read More and Watch Video Here
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