Parcel bomb sent to ministry destroyed

A parcel bomb sent to Greece’s justice ministry was detonated by bomb squad experts in a controlled explosion at 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday. Police said that the parcel had arrived by courier from the Athens district of Nea Ionia earlier the same morning and was addressed to the minister. The name of the sender on the parcel was the “Independent Initiative of Law Interns”.

The parcel aroused the suspicions of ministry staff, who took it outside the building and called the police. Upon inspection by bomb disposal experts, it was found to be a makeshift bomb.

According to police sources, the mechanism used was similar to that of the parcel bombs sent to embassies and other targets in November. Two people are now in custody for the spate of parcel bombs sent in November but so far there is no information on whether there are any links between those and the bomb intercepted on Wednesday.

The case has been assigned to the Greek Police counter-terrorism service.