| news sep/oct 2005 |
Animal Rights Activists Terrorize NJ Pharmaceutical Executive
First came the threatening phone calls to George Svokos' home in Franklin Lakes last December.
Then his mail was stolen. Fliers appeared on his car and those of neighbors, accusing his employer of animal slaughter and abuse.
Burglars broke into the house, stole a credit card and ran up a $5,000 bill, including a blow-up sex doll to be sent to his home.
They also stole the itinerary for an upcoming family vacation in London, circulating the details in an e-mail urging the recipients to call the hotel and "make his vacation one he'll never forget."
Svokos, president of Plantex USA Inc., a Hackensack-based drug-marketing company, alleges the series of events in a lawsuit awaiting trial in Superior Court in Hackensack. He says he was targeted by animal rights activists because his employer's parent company, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA of North Wales, Pa., tests drugs at a laboratory run by Huntingdon Life Sciences, which uses animals for testing medicines and agricultural products.
The alleged harassment fits the pattern of a ferocious effort by animal rights activists in recent years - especially a group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC-USA) - to shut down the testing company, which has headquarters near Princeton and a small executive suite in Hackensack.
Saying the laboratory's work is cruel and unnecessary, the activists admit to a range of pressure tactics, including protests outside company offices and employee homes, threatening phone calls, and mass fax, leaflet and e-mail blitzes denouncing Huntingdon.
But the activists also face criminal charges brought by federal authorities, who say the tactics extend to vandalism and violence.
Seven SHAC members are set to go on trial in February in Trenton on federal charges of interstate stalking and conspiracy connected to the anti-Huntingdon campaign. FBI Deputy Assistant Director John Lewis told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that investigating campaigns waged by SHAC and other animal rights groups "is one of the FBI's highest domestic terrorism priorities."
The activists have broadened their focus, including what authorities call "secondary targets" such as Svokos - employees and officers of any company that either hires Huntingdon or has some other connection.
Huntingdon hurt
Drug giants such as GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Hoffmann-La Roche and Novartis have all been targeted. Lewis told the Senate committee that the tactics have prompted more than 100 companies to refuse to work with Huntingdon, among them Johnson & Johnson and Merck.
On Sept. 7, the New York Stock Exchange abruptly postponed a scheduled listing of Huntingdon on the Big Board, a move that many observers - including Huntingdon executives - believe was the result of activist intimidation.
An exchange attorney, Richard P. Bernard, told the committee Wednesday only that the NYSE is still evaluating the Huntingdon listing, adding that it cannot comment on the issue due to client confidentiality.
Intimidation and threats are nothing new for Huntingdon, one of the largest testing laboratories in the United States. Originally in Britain, the company moved its corporate headquarters to New Jersey in 2002 to escape British animal rights activists.
These days, Chief Financial Officer Richard Michaelson - the company's top U.S. executive - and two other senior company officials work out of an office in Hackensack, which - for security reasons — doesn't bear the company name.
For all the opposition, he said, the company - which trades as Life Sciences Research - is strong. Revenues rose from $115 million to $157.5 million between 2002 and 2005. The company, listed on the NYSE from 1989 to 2000, was de-listed when the share price fell below $1. But the price has risen since 2002 from around $2 to a peak of about $18 in August before dropping.
Michaelson declined to identify company clients, but said, "We do business with most of the world's leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies."
Critics say the company is built on abuse and cruelty to dogs, monkeys, rabbits and other animals revealed over the years by undercover investigations. They say animals shouldn't suffer so that humans can develop unnecessary items such as fertilizers and diet drugs, and liken themselves to civil rights activists.
Nick Cooney, 24, a Philadelphia resident named in the Svokos suit, denied the allegations against him personally. But he said he agrees with some of the tactics, including burglary and even violence if it saves many animals' lives, adding that the impact of these tactics on company executives pales in comparison to the pain inflicted on animals in the laboratory.
Cooney, a Hofstra University graduate with close ties to SHAC, said the Svokos suit is one of more than 20 similar cases around the country.
"These suits are nothing more than an attempt to infringe on the First Amendment rights of peaceful activists," Cooney said. "They seek to limit the number of demonstrations that can be held, where demonstrations can be held, to make educating the public about the issue more difficult."
But U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie in Newark called the activists "lawless thugs attacking innocent men, women and children."
'Terror tactics'
Prosecutors allege SHAC and the seven members charged conducted a campaign of "activity meant to harm the business of HLS in any manner available." The indictment says the seven posted a list of "top 20 terror tactics" on the SHAC Web site along with daily targets, which were then hit with vandalism and intimidation.
"The primary story here is really not whether you challenge whether or not what we do is ethical or not," Michaelson said. "The issue here is whether or not we allow individuals to coerce others to refrain from lawful activities."
Michaelson pointed out that the U.S. government mandates that early stage drugs be tested on animals before they are used on humans. He said 80 percent of Huntingdon's tests are conducted on rodents, though some dogs, monkeys and pigs are used. Some are killed afterward so that effect of the drugs can be studied, he said.
Michaelson admitted that the activists have had an impact.
At least two Huntingdon board members have resigned as a result of the campaign, Michaelson said. So, too, have more than 40 market makers of Huntingdon stock, company auditor Deloitte & Touche, the security firm that protects the Huntingdon laboratory, its landscaping contractor and even the person who delivers employee sandwiches, he said.
Last week, several institutions sold Huntingdon stock after they were targeted by a Brooklyn-based animal rights group, pushing shares down from just over $15 at the start of the month to $11.35 Friday, he said.
Activists brought their campaign to Saddle Brook on a recent afternoon as seven protesters, including Cooney, mounted a raucous picket outside the offices of Thomson Horstmann & Bryant, a fund manager.
Members of the group, called Hugs For Puppies, looked mostly in their 20s and said they had traveled from Long Island and Philadelphia.
Alleged death toll
They held up placards depicting a wounded, bleeding beagle and two white rabbits, their heads trapped in a neck-grip, which the protestors said help technicians administer eye drops. One sign said that 500 animals die every day at the laboratory - a figure Michaelson said is vastly exaggerated - with a headline: "Puppy killers — close them down."
Cooney, the apparent leader, said that SHAC had previously sent letters to Thomson Horstmann & Bryant demanding the firm sell its Huntingdon shares. He delivered anti-Huntingdon leaflets to a visibly shaken employee at Thomson's fifth-floor office, then came back outside to harangue building occupants with a bullhorn.
"We are here today, because Thomson Horstmann & Bryant on the fifth floor of your building invest in one of the most cruel and disgusting companies in the country," he shouted.
He urged the company to sell off its shares or "you will find us outside your office or outside your homes, or outside your churches or family picnics."
Two days later, according to an e-mail supplied by Cooney, the company announced it no longer held Huntingdon stock. The company did not return a request for comment.
That wasn't how Svokos, Plantex and Teva - an Israeli company that is one of the larger generic manufacturers - reacted to the pressure, when they were targeted late last year. Instead, they filed suit, detailing a campaign not only against Svokos, but Teva CEO George Barrett, other company employees and even against their churches.
Aside from Cooney and SHAC, the 10-count suit names as defendants two other animal rights groups and Hugs For Puppies. It seeks damages and a court injunction to stop the activity - a remedy that was granted temporarily in April by Superior Court Judge Peter E. Doyle, who restricted how close activists could picket to the Svokos residence.
A Teva spokesman said Svokos would not comment. The company also did not respond to other questions on the case.
Newark attorney Bennett D. Zurofsky - who represents SHAC but not the other defendants - denied the allegations against his client. The organization merely runs a Web site that promotes the campaign against Huntingdon, and didn't take part in the alleged activities, he said.
SHAC members support "some illegal means, as long as they are not harmful of either human or animal life," Zurofsky said.
"There's a difference between advocating a position, and actually going out and doing something."
Huntingdon Life Sciences
1952: Huntingdon Life Sciences is formed to conduct nutrition, veterinary and biochemical research.
1989: Company stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as a foreign company.
1997: A British documentary shows an HLS technician hitting a beagle, incensing animal rights activists. Other footage showed a technician slitting open a live monkey.
1998: Huntingdon agrees to pay a $50,000 fine to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to settle 23 animal-welfare charges, including a failure to use appropriate anesthetics or sedatives.
1999: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) formed in the United Kingdom with the aim of shutting down HLS, then Europe's largest animal-testing lab.
2000: Huntingdon delisted from NYSE after share prices fall below $1, partly due to the effect of animal rights attacks.
2001: Huntingdon CEO Brian Cass is attacked in England by activists wielding baseball bats.
2001: SHAC-USA is formed.
2002: British government steps in to provide Huntingdon with insurance coverage when no private company will do so.
2002: Huntingdon moves its world HQ to New Jersey to escape British animal rights activists. The company trades under the name Life Sciences Research.
May 2004: SHAC and seven members are indicted in federal court in Newark on conspiracy and interstate stalking charges.
September
2005: An hour before Huntingdon was due to be listed by the NYSE,
the exchange postpones the listing.
30 Oct 2005, North Jersey News
Suspicious Briefcase Forces Evacuation of Detroit Post Office
Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh found herself in a traffic jam on the way to a Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday evening, but she had no complaints.
The jam was caused by a bomb scare at the U.S. Post Office on Main Street in downtown Mount Clemens, which forced police to shut down traffic on Northbound Gratiot, diverting motorists through local neighborhoods.
The threat later turned out to be false.
"Any inconvenience we may have to endure is no bother as long as everyone is safe. We'll find our way to the meeting," Sabaugh said, after getting directions from a couple of passers-by.
The commotion on Main Street was caused by a suspicious briefcase that a woman found near a mailbox outside of the post office. Postal officials used a portable X-ray device to examine the briefcase and detected something inside that caught their interest.
Michigan State Police explosives experts were called to the scene and determined that whatever was in the briefcase was not a threat. They would not reveal what the item was, other than to say there was nothing else in the briefcase, which did not have any identification.
U.S. Postal Inspector Fred Van de Putte said the item in the briefcase "made us a bit uncomfortable," so the state police bomb squad and the FBI were called to the scene.
"We weren't going to take a chance on jeopardizing the safety of our employees or the public's safety," Van de Putte said. "At the time, we considered this to be a live scenario as opposed to a drill."
The briefcase was found about 4:30 p.m. Once postal officials used the X-ray device and became suspicious, they ordered the evacuation of about 50 letter carriers and other workers about an hour later.
Macomb County Sheriff's deputies shut down traffic on Northbound Gratiot at Robertson, and closed Main Street from Church to Robertson.
The Harold W. Vick Funeral Home and the Second Hand Rose resale shop were also evacuated.
A women's counseling center had to cancel a support group meeting.
Workers from the post office sat in mail trucks or nearby buildings while the investigation was under way. They were cleared to return to work by about 7:20 p.m.
"It's always better to be safe than sorry even at the cost of inconveniencing a lot of folks," Van de Putte said. "I don't want to be specific about what we found in there because I don't want someone repeating this all over."
Phil Frame,
a spokesman for the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, said
the board conducted its regular meeting Wednesday night without
any delays. The board meets in the county administration building
on Main Street at Cass, about two blocks north of the post office.
27 Oct 2005, Macomb
Daily
Bomb Squad Disables Mail Bomb at Virginia Courthouse
A suspicious package that contained what authorities believe was a bomb was seen in the mail at the U.S. Courthouse yesterday and handled by the Richmond police bomb squad.
U.S. Postal Inspector D.E. Wood said the return address indicated the package came from a federal prison. "We believe it's an actual device," Wood said.
Officials would not specify what was found at the scene. But last night, Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe confirmed that a device was recovered and "disrupted" by the bomb squad.
Police said the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for courthouse security, called 911 at 9:36 a.m. Employees were evacuated about 9:30 a.m. from the courthouse annex building at 1100 E. Main St. The annex is next door to the main courthouse at 10th and Main streets. The main courthouse was not evacuated.
Authorities said black powder found in the package will be analyzed to be sure that it is an explosive. Courthouse employees said they were told the package contained wires, a battery, a switch, a light bulb and nails.
Monroe said the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is leading the investigation of the device and who sent it. Wood said his agency is working with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Wood said the package was X-rayed twice at the scene to be sure of its contents before the bomb-squad officers went to work.
"They rendered the package safe," Wood said, "and we gathered the evidence and we are transporting it to the ATF lab." Wood did not know what method the bomb squad used.
He said the package was made safe about two hours after the incident began. It took about three more hours to finish gathering evidence.
Employees were allowed to re-enter the annex building about 2:30 p.m.
25 Oct 2005,
Times Despatch
Letter Bomb Sent to Italian Prosecutor
A package containing a detonator without explosives was sent to the prosecutor leading a match-fixing investigation into Italian league soccer games from last season, police said Tuesday.
Genoa prosecutor Alberto Lari noticed something strange about the package after receiving it and turned it over to the Carabinieri paramilitary police, Col. Salvatore Graci said.
Police opened the package and found a detonator but no explosives, Graci told The Associated Press by telephone.
Lari's inquiry is focusing on seven matches, including the Rome derby between AS Roma and Lazio on May 15 that ended 0-0.
Five other matches were also in the Serie A — AC Milan versus Palermo, Livorno versus Juventus, Reggina versus Lecce, Sampdoria versus Inter Milan and Messina versus Livorno. The seventh, Empoli versus Genoa, was in the second division.
All the games finished in draws except for Inter's 1-0 win over Sampdoria.
The Italian
soccer federation said Tuesday it would ask Genoa authorities
for more information regarding their investigation.
25 Oct 2005, AP
Asian Business Owners Targeted in Hate
Mail Campaign
Hate mail received late last week by immigrant Asian business owners contained threats to rape the women of the community and kill the children.
The letters claimed to be from a member of the Aryan Nation, Police Inspector William Colarulo said yesterday.
He said at least three business owners received the hate mail on Friday.
Ken Wong, a Chinatown insurance agent and community activist, said other business owners had received the hate mail Thursday, and he placed the number of letters received so far at seven.
Two of the letters threatened to set off a mustard-gas bomb, police said. One was sent to Allen Ho, 30, who works at the First Oriental Market, 6th Street near Washington Avenue. The other was mailed to Michael Chan, 32, at Hung Vuong, a grocery store on Washington Avenue near 11th Street. Cops and K-9 dogs rushed to the shops but found no signs of bombs, police said.
A third letter was sent to Antoine Tran at his shop, China Viet News, on Arch Street near 9th.
Wong said all those who received the letters are Asian immigrants with businesses in Chinatown, South Philadelphia or Southwest Philadelphia. The South Philadelphia recipients were ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, he said.
Some other letters went to Chinese shop owners, but the letters railed against Vietnamese, Koreans and Japanese as well. One also targeted African-Americans and Jews, he said. Some contained "pretty graphic" photos of bodies of dead Asians, Wong said.
Colarulo urged anyone who receives the letters not to "blow this off as a harmless prank. It's disheartening and disgusting that we have people who feel this way."
When whoever is responsible is caught, Colarulo said, authorities will charge them with terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation.
He said police were checking for fingerprints and analyzing handwriting.
"It did look as if somebody's taken quite a bit of time," to produce the letters, Wong said. "They're handwritten, a full notebook page."
"They're [the letters] indicating that Asians are not welcome, and that they would rape the women in the community and kill the children.
25 Oct 2005,
Philadelpha Daily News
Korean Official and Professor Targeted with White Powder Threat
Letters
Guardians of the nation’s security were out in force on Tuesday after a white powdery substance was discovered in envelopes addressed to Prof. Kang Jeong-koo and Justice Minister Chun Jung-bae, two key figures in a row between the government and prosecution. The find mobilized police, the National Intelligence Service, the quarantine office and the chemicals squad.
The small amount of white powder was found in two yellow envelopes that had been dropped off at Mok-dong Post Office in Seoul. The sender field on the envelopes, which were slightly larger than A4 size, read "USA" in Latin script. The one meant for the minister contained a letter of commendation supposedly from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, while in the one for Prof. Kang there was a piece of paper covered with foul language and insults. Both also contained pornographic images.
Everything found in the envelopes except the white powder was reportedly taken away by the NIS. A post office staff member said the powder was detected during X-ray inspection. Initial analysis of the substance showed it to be a mix of wheat flour and coffee creamer, but police have commissioned the quarantine office of the Health and Welfare Ministry to take a closer look.
Yangcheon
Police Station are checking the envelopes for fingerprints in
search of a suspect who could be upset over the justice minister’s
order to prosecutors not to arrest Prof. Kang under the National
Security Law for pro-Pyongyang remarks, notably by referring to
the Korean War as “North Korea's war of unification.”
25 Oct 2005, Chosun
Ricin Directions Shared on Internet for
Terrorists
Fighting al-Qaida marks the first time in world history that a guerilla faction has moved war from the physical domain to cyberspace, said the Army CIO.
The concepts of warfare have not changed in over 2,000 years, but the tools used for war have, Army Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle said during a lunch address yesterday at the MILCOM 2005 conference.
Boutelle implored the audience not to get comfortable about the advances that have been made by commercial technologies. Those same technologies, Boutelle warned, are being used by terrorist groups like al-Qaida, and in some instances, America's adversaries are better at obtaining and using information to their advantage.
These groups have "fully embraced the Internet and fully embraced the technology, and they are using it to kill your people," he added.
Today, members of the terrorist network use the Internet to communicate with each other and to recruit new members, Boutelle said, adding that they have posted recipes for ricin poison, outlined the chemicals needed to make a bomb and described in vivid language the best way to shoot and kill an American soldier.
"Your enemy, your adversary, is using your information, and they do it faster, better and cheaper," Boutelle said.
The best counterattack to al-Qaida's increasing use of IT is to spiral new technologies into Iraq as soon as possible, Boutelle said. He encouraged contractors to "think about what you're bringing to the table for us."
19 Oct 2005, Government Computer News
Powders in Mail Close Royal Mail and UK Passport for Terror Alerts
Two of the city's largest administrative centers were rocked by terrorist alerts after suspicious white powder was found leaking from packages.
A section of the city's Royal Mail sorting office, in Papyrus Road, Werrington, was sealed off yesterday at 10am, after an employee saw powder leaking from a parcel.
And the city's UK Passport Office, in Aragon Court, Northminster Road, also suffered a scare when white powder was discovered in a envelope yesterday, at about 11am.
Workers in the collections area of the sorting office were moved to duties elsewhere in the building, while fire crews and police investigated.
Trucks were unable to deliver collections from postboxes around the city to the normal drop-off point.
Royal Mail spokesman James Taylor said staff had been careful to spot suspect packages even before incidents such as 9/11 and anthrax alerts in the US.
He said: "Our staff are very vigilant, and they are trained to spot any item of mail that appears suspicious.
"While this incident is rare, it does not pose any particular problems to us because procedures are well rehearsed, and we deal with a million items of mail a day in Peterborough."
The area was reopened at 1.30pm, and police later confirmed the powder was a non-toxic substance, which had not been sent maliciously.
The spokesman added that contingency plans meant there was no significant disruption to mail operations.
Mr Taylor added that the procedures were "well rehearsed" and safety of staff had been the most important factor.
In this case, bosses at the sorting office called police and the fire service straight away to deal with the problem.
However, if a more serious toxic substance was discovered, Royal Mail would defer to the emergency services and follow their advice, Mr Taylor said.
At the Passport Office, a back room was sealed off after powder was found in a letter.
But police later confirmed it was also a false alarm and the building did not need to be evacuated.
Shelley Spratt,
spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police, added: "Both packages
were sent legitimately and they were not sent maliciously
18 Oct 2005, Evening Telegraph
Suspicious Package Addressed to CIA Shuts
Down Post Office
A post office on Hilton Head Island was shut down for about three hours Saturday after receiving a suspicious package that turned out not to be a threat.
A mail carrier brought a package that had been placed in a drop box at the Circle Center into the office at 10 Bow Circle at about 5 p.m., according to Beaufort County Sheriff's Office reports.
The 8-by-10-inch envelope had no return address and was addressed to the CIA office in Washington, D.C., with no zip code or street address.
Sheriff's Office deputies cleared the building of employees at about 6 p.m. The SLED bomb squad determined the envelope wasn't hazardous.
Postal administrators opened the package to reveal a bound notebook with writings in an undetermined language. The building was opened up at about 9 p.m.
16 Oct 2005,
Island Packet
White Powder Scare in Senator’s Mail
Forces Evacuation
An employee at the AmSouth Operations Center in South Nashville opened an envelope that contained a white powder, which brought Hazardous Materials teams and some tense moments to the facility.
Each year, Senator Bill Frist mails out a survey, and officials said it was one of those mailings that came back to the AmSouth Center with the white powder inside.
Hazardous Materials teams evacuated the building, secured the area and tested the substance, which turned out to be harmless.
Firefighters said while it’s frustrating to respond to hoaxes like this one, they have to treat every potential threat as though it were legitimate.
“We feel real good about this. We’ve made enough of them now, we have enough experience. The fire department, police department, working together with the FBI, we’ve got a protocol that we go through. Certainly we always treat it seriously, and in this particular case, there’s no threatening letter or anything with the envelope, just some powder,” said Bobby Connelly of the Nashville Fire Department.
All of the
employees at the AmSouth center were allowed to return to work
by late morning.
13 Oct 2005, WTVF News
Three Fake Bombs Evacuate Georgia Courts
Three "hoax" explosive devices were found Friday morning at the Carroll County Courthouse, said FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett.
The devices were located after a "threat call" was received at the Carroll Probate Court, Emmett said.
"One of the devices was found in a public restroom inside the courthouse and consisted of road flares mixed with electronics," Emmett said. Two other devices were found outside the courthouse, one near a dumpster, he said.
The bomb threat was phoned in about 9:30 this morning, said Carrollton Police Capt. Michael Mansour.
Police agencies from Carrollton, Carroll County and surounding jurisdictions responded to the county courthouse which is located in Carrollton, Mansour said.
Other police agencies assisting in the search of the courthouse include MARTA police, K-9 units from several departments, the State Patrol and GBI, Mansour said. The area around the courthouse was still cordoned off as of 12:45 p.m., Mansour said.
The FBI and GBI explosives teams responded to the courthouse and took the devices for further study, Emmett said.
14 Oct 2005, AJC
Bomb Scares Expensive for Businesses
A Greensboro teen's 50 bomb threat calls this spring didn't just annoy area businesses and inconvenience their customers.
They cost companies money -- thousands of dollars in some cases -- for extra security and lost time. And 17-year-old Tony Wayne Moore, who pleaded guilty Monday to making the calls, is ordered to try to repay it.
The series of threats started March 24 and ended with Moore's arrest five days later. Police tracked him down through a cell phone the teen had stolen from his church and was using to make the calls.
Only a few victims sent prosecutors claims for their losses. That included several airlines, whose operations were delayed because of four bomb threats in as many days at Piedmont Triad International Airport. The calls caused the airport to evacuate twice, delaying flights and causing other problems.
During one of the incidents, a Northwest Airlines flight had landed but was not allowed to taxi to the gate for nearly an hour, court documents indicate. The airline calculated the loss at $772.24. That included $504 for spent fuel and crew expenses at $4.79 per minute for 56 minutes.
Independence Air claimed a much greater loss -- $7,546.20 for pilot and gate agent overtime, fuel costs and maintenance.
The threats didn't do much to help Continental Airlines' punctuality. One of its flights was 111 minutes late arriving at the airport. But they only attributed 49 minutes of that to the bomb scare, court documents said. Total cost -- $126 for four hours of employee overtime.
The airport itself claimed $749.94 in additional man hours because of the threats.
"I'm not sure (Tony) quite knew the impact" he'd had at the airport, Moore's attorney, Sabrina Bailey, told a Superior Court judge during his plea hearing Monday. She said the teen had never flown.
Others who requested restitution included:
• officials with First Horizon Park, who spent $2,500 for 24-hour security after a bomb threat Moore left in a voice mail message. The threat came days before the park's inaugural baseball game.
• the Greensboro law offices of Crumley & Associates, which estimated a $5,000 loss for a two-hour evacuation caused by a bomb threat.
The judge thought that figure excessive and reduced it to $1,000.
Greensboro police said Tuesday that they did not tally the costs for responding to the bomb threats.
For at least one company, the real damage was fear.
Moore's March 27 bomb threat call to Kindred Hospital -- Greensboro left workers emotionally distraught.
Evacuation was not possible because of the critically ill patients receiving treatment , and the workers had to remain inside the hospital.
One worker suffered an anxiety attack, complete with chest pains.
"Can you imagine the anxiety and terror we felt -- knowing that any second could be our last on this earth," nursing supervisor Lee Younts wrote in a letter to prosecutors.
12 Oct 2005, Greensboro News Record
Inmate Sends Ricin and Anthrax Threat Letters to FBI and News Outlets
A state inmate serving time for bank robbery sent a series of hoax letters purporting to contain anthrax or ricin to the FBI and to several news organizations, according to a federal complaint unsealed today.
Monroe Correctional Center inmate Aaron Sloan continued to send threatening letters claiming to include the dangerous substances even after state Department of Corrections officials intercepted some of them, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.
Gary Larson, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said difficult constitutional issues come into play regarding the regulation of offenders' right to send mail.
"It's very difficult to be completely successful in a situation of this type," he said.
None of the roughly half-dozen letters Sloan allegedly sent between June 2004 and August 2005 actually contained anthrax or ricin. Ricin is a poison; anthrax is an acute infectious disease that gained public attention after the Sept. 11 attacks when an NBC News employee in New York contracted the disease from a contaminated letter. That case remains unsolved.
Sloan, 25, is charged with one count of conveying false information in connection with a Jan. 4 letter that was sent to Newsweek. The letter stated that the powdery substance enclosed was anthrax.
The law under which Sloan was charged became effective last December. The filing against him is among the law's first applications by Seattle-based federal prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake said the government will file additional counts relating to other letters allegedly sent by Sloan if prosecutors seek an indictment. Whether they will do that depends on several factors, including a possible mental evaluation.
In February, Sloan told investigators that he accepted responsibility for sending several of the letters but denied he was responsible for others that had other inmates' names as the senders, according to the complaint. Federal investigators say they believe Sloan is responsible for all the letters, and that he selected the names of Monroe inmates with whom he had had trouble.
Sloan's defense attorney declined to comment.
A state psychologist told investigators Sloan is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered delusions and who quit taking medications in June 2004 while in custody, according to the complaint. The roughly half-dozen letters linked to Sloan were sent from Monroe after that date.
Medical officials at Monroe were unavailable for comment today. Larson, the corrections spokesman, said it is possible to force an inmate to take medications but "there's quite a process you have to go through." He said he could not discuss the specifics of Sloan's case.
"It is a little shocking," Assistant U.S. Attorney Miyake said of the oversight questions raised by the allegations.
Department of Corrections rules state that staff are authorized "to inspect and read incoming and outgoing mail. The inspection shall serve to prevent offenders from receiving or sending contraband, or any other material that threatens to undermine the security and order of the facility, through the mail; and to prevent criminal activity."
Those who received letters allegedly sent by Sloan reacted differently. When a letter dated Jan. 5, 2005, was sent to the Economist, the office was temporarily shut down, the complaint said.
But employees at Time magazine who received two letters that same month that purported to include anthrax believed they were hoaxes, according to the complaint, and sent the letters back to Monroe.
Today, a federal
judge ordered that Sloan — who served the last day of his
state sentence Monday — be held without bail until a hearing
Friday.
11 Oct 2005, Seattle Times
Suspected Bomb Detonated at Kohl's in Philadelphia
Area
The Montgomery County Bomb Disposal Unit detonated what police said was a "suspicious device" that was placed in front of an entrance to Kohl's Department Store at 989 Main Street, at 1:15 p.m. on Monday.
Limerick Township Police Chief William Albany said a preliminary investigation revealed Monday's incident was likely "not related" to the Suburban Bomber, who terrorized the Phoenixville area for nearly two years.
Employees and shoppers of Kohl's, Giant Food Stores and Blockbuster Video were notified shortly after 11 a.m. and safely evacuated from the building.
Albany said that police found a nylon bag outside the Men's Department entrance to Kohl's with a hand-written note taped to it that read, "THIS IS A BOMB."
A bomb squad technician X-rayed the package, revealing the contents of the bag "were not just laundry and shaving cream," Albany said.
"It was constructed in such a manner that they thought it a credible threat," Albany continued. "The X-ray showed things that were suspicious in appearance."
Investigators were unable to determine at the scene whether or not the bag contained an actual bomb, but Albany said there was no evidence to indicate it contained explosives.
The bag was destroyed by a water cannon, rendering it safe for officials to continue investigation into the incident.
Albany said that a preliminary investigation was underway and that county detectives and both ATF and FBI agents had already been notified.
A bomb squad technician wearing a full protective suit used a Giant Food Stores shopping cart to transport sandbags to the entrance of Kohl's, which were used to protect the glass storefront.
The closest person to the entranceway was a male official approximately 150 feet away who yelled twice, "fire in the hole" several seconds before the bag and its contents were detonated by a bright yellow cord.
The storefront exhibited minor damage following the blast.
Police were combing the parking lot minutes after the detonation to try to determine the contents of the nylon bag.
Albany said that the investigation will use forensic evidence gathered at the scene, including possibly fingerprints and video surveillance cameras.
Kohl's employees returned to the store at 1:38 p.m. after being treated by management to a lunch at nearby Donato's restaurant, according to a Giant employee who asked not to be named.
Limerick Township Police K-9 Unit and the Linfield Fire Company assisted the bomb squad at the scene.
Kohl's management refused comment at the scene
and again several hours later when contacted by phone.
11 Oct 2005, Phoenixville News
Police in California Investigate Powder In Mail Sent to Contractor
Police and hazmat crews responded to a chemical scare Monday morning when a worker at a Benicia-based contracting company opened an envelope containing white powder.
When the 58-year-old female employee of Bay Area Instrument & Electric Inc. opened the envelope shortly after 10:30 a.m. a fine white powder sprinkled out and onto her clothes and work area.
Benicia police, fire crews and the Solano County Hazardous Materials Team responded to the incident and contained the scene.
A testing of the suspicious material revealed it to be corn starch.
The package was sent Oct. 7 from the Houston-based company Drug Interventions Services of America, which screens for drugs in samples provided by Bay Area Instruments of employees who work in local oil refineries.
Police are
investigating the incident with U.S. Postal Inspector officials.
10 Oct 2005, Contra Costa Times
Oxford Research Lab Workers Sent Threatening
Letters by ALF
Builders and decorators working on a new laboratory at Oxford University have been sent threatening letters by animal rights extremists.
Police think the letters form part of a campaign to stop work on the new animal research facility at South Parks Road.
Detectives are investigating 18 anonymous letters sent to companies across Oxfordshire threatening action from the Animal Liberation Front.
They also believe other people may have received letters but not reported it.
'Active protest'
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "It is very important that anyone who is sent a threatening letter, or becomes the victim of any other harassing or intimidating behaviour, lets us know what has happened.
"Although everyone is entitled to an opinion about this very emotive issue, it is just not acceptable to act in a way which intimidates other people and threatens their livelihood.
"Thames Valley Police has worked with representatives from groups who wish to protest about the building and the university to facilitate a regular time and place for active protest.
"Criminal activity will not be tolerated from any section of the community."
Last year the university took out an injunction preventing protestors from demonstrating too near the site.
11 Oct 2005, BBC
Canadian Customs Officers Trained to Spot Letter Bombs
Customs officers are on red alert for hidden letter bombs triggered to explode in the mail they inspect.
The 120 officers at Gateway have been trained to intercept bombs or explosives in letters, greeting cards, books, video cassettes and other items in the mail.
On a wall of the Dixie Rd. processing plant are posters of letter bombs and warnings officers should remember when they open a package for inspection.
The posters alert them to loose wires, timing devices, electrical parts, tape or other suspicious items that can be hidden in letters.
Patrizia Giolti, of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said letter bombs seized in other countries have been circulated to law enforcement agencies here.
UNABOMBER
Some of the bombs were the work of the notorious Unabomber, Theodore John Kaczynski, who sent mail bombs to people for more than 18 years before his arrest.
"Our officers receive ongoing training and are always kept up to date," says Giolti. "We have to keep pace with the criminal element."
Bob Burfield, CBSA director of postal operations, says an air horn is sounded when explosives are found.
"Security is very important," he says. "Whenever the horn blasts, employees know they have to leave."
But Ron Moran, of the Customs Excise Union, said officers require more training to keep up with the threats.
"We very often come across real or inert explosive devices," Moran says, adding three live hand grenades were found recently at Gateway and seizures of those weapons are becoming more common.
9 Oct 2005, Toronto Sun
Mail Bomb Delivered to Italian Official
A parcel bomb
was delivered this morning to the office of the Council Trade
Assessor of Catania, Mimmo Rotella. Someone managed to enter his
office without being seen and left the package on his desk whilst
he was absent. The bomb was contained in a white envelope and
comprised of two batteries, a spring detonator, 100 grams of gunpowder
and some nails. The councillor found the package as he returned
to his office and finding it suspicious he called the Police.
An X-ray of the package disclosed its nature which bomb experts
say could have caused injury at a distance of up to one and a
half meters. An enquiry has been opened into the matter, adding
to that launched earlier this week when a series of threatening
calls against the deputy Mayor, Nello Musumesi, were received
by the Fire Brigade and Ambulance service.
7 Oct 2005, AGI
'Peace bomb' Delivered to National Gallery
in Australia
A parcel bearing the words "peace bomb" was removed
from outside the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne today.
Victoria Police confirmed the incident took place but said they were seeking further details. ABC radio reported that a parcel was removed from outside the front of the gallery.
"Earlier this morning St Kilda Road was closed because of a parcel which had 'peace bomb' written on it which was put outside the National Gallery," presenter Jon Faine said.
"There were two large white vans with blackened windows, out of one of which emerged the bomb disposal squad's robotic device."
There is another
road block on St Kilda Road but a police spokeswoman said a bomb
was not suspected in this case.
7 Oct 2005, AAP
Analysts Say Malaysia Mystery Mail Designed
to Scare
Suspicious packages that triggered a security alert in Malaysia's diplomatic district this week were probably sent by scaremongers with no serious ties to well-known terror groups, political analysts said on Thursday.
Slim packages containing a yellow, oily liquid -- and in one case a powder -- have been delivered to at least 11 embassies over the past two days, accompanied by a message condemning the countries for mistreating Muslims.
"This is a hoax," said terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore. "But every hoax must be checked out."
The suspect mail arrived at the U.S., British, French, German, Australian, Canadian and Russian missions, among others, police said, just a few days after three bombers set off explosions on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, killing themselves and 19 people, and wounding 146.
Although still testing some of the packages, Malaysian police say they appear to be a hoax aimed at sowing fears of a chemical attack. Analysts said they did not think a terrorist group would broadcast its intentions ahead of a possible attack.
"Normally we don't see the Jemaah Islamiah giving warnings ahead," said political analyst Bruce Gale, referring to the al Qaeda-linked group blamed for a string of attacks, including bombings in Bali three years ago that killed 202 people.
"Jemaah Islamiah goes for the kill. They want high casualties," said Gale, who is based in Singapore with consultancy Hill and Associates.
The packages were probably sent by disaffected individuals with no serious connections to terrorists, he said.
Another analyst ruled out the possibility that the packages signified militants' intentions of violent attacks.
"I don't see any grounds for believing that their aims are to 'attack' these installations in a physical sense," said political scientist Harold Crouch, of Australian National University.
"Can we classify as militant a group that sends hoax packages with CDs and oily fluid along with its messages?" he asked.
Malaysia has not experienced any high-profile bombings of the kind seen in Indonesia, but there was a disquieting factor, Gale said.
"The fact is that two of the most wanted men in the region are Malaysian citizens and one can always speculate that there could be other Malaysian exports which the authorities don't know anything about, so that is always a worry," Gale told Reuters.
"NON-SERIOUS GROUPS"
Indonesian officials have accused fugitive Malaysians Azahari Husin and Noordin Top of being the leaders of Jemaah Islamiah, and they are the prime targets in the manhunt for the masterminds of the weekend suicide bombings in Bali.
Former Australian diplomat Richard Broinowski said the wide selection of embassies receiving the packages showed a scattergun approach on the part of the senders.
"My view would be it's probably a fairly ill-thought-out attempt by non-serious groups," said the former ambassador to Vietnam and South Korea.
In March 2004, a small explosive device was hurled outside the Australian embassy in Kuala Lumpur but caused no injuries or damage. No one claimed responsibility and no arrests were made.
"For Malaysia, it is rather embarrassing," said Gale. "We've had a series of these sort of security incidents at embassies in the last few years and although the Malaysians have established a special police unit to deal with them, they're still happening."
6 Oct 2005, Reuters
Ten Embassies Receive Chemical Attack Letters Sparking Security Alert in Malaysia
A suspected hoax designed to sow fears of a chemical attack in Malaysia's diplomatic district struck at five more embassies on Wednesday, police and diplomats said.
Slim packages containing a yellow, oily liquid -- and in one case a powder -- have been delivered to at least 10 embassies in the past two days, with a message condemning the countries for mistreating Muslims, Kuala Lumpur's police chief said.
The U.S., British, French and Australian missions all said they had received the suspicious packages in the mail on Wednesday, but none of the missions were evacuated. The packages were handed over to police and sent for analysis.
The Bernama news agency said the Russian embassy also received a similar envelope. An embassy official, however, declined to comment.
"I think it's normal oil, it's nothing dangerous," Mustafa Abdullah told Reuters by phone from police headquarters.
The government said the country remained safe and that foreigners should not be unduly worried.
"Whatever precautionary measure that must be taken will be taken," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said. "Even after the September 11 (2001), there had been no backlash on foreign missions here."
Diplomats and police had already been put on alert after suicide bombings killed 22 people last Saturday on the resort island of Bali, in neighbouring Indonesia. The security scare coincided with the eve of Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month.
"Yes, we received this morning a CD with traces of yellow liquid inside," a spokesman for the Australian High Commission said.
The French embassy reported a similar discovery. "The police came to take a look and they took away the envelope. There was no evacuation," a French embassy spokeswoman said.
On Tuesday, the Japanese embassy was the first to notice the package and evacuated its staff while police and hazardous-chemicals experts swept through the building.
Within hours, similar packages were found at the Canadian, German, Singaporean, Philippine and Thai missions.
"The fact that this scare happened soon after the Bali attack is a warning signal. It may be innocent but we cannot take chances," Syed Hamid, the foreign minister, told reporters.
Police checked the liquid found in the Japanese embassy package and deemed it harmless, police chief Mustafa said on Tuesday, but checks were still being made on the other packages.
Mustafa and one diplomat said the packages contained a note accusing the respective countries of abusing Muslims.
Mustafa quoted one note as saying: "You have been infected with a biological and chemical weapon. May Allah curse you for what you have done to the Muslim ummah (community)."
The packages were all sent from Malaysian addresses, including the northeastern states of Kelantan and Terengganu, he said. These states are strongly Muslim.
Mustafa declined to speculate on who was behind the packages.
In March 2004,
a small explosive device was hurled outside the Australian embassy
in Kuala Lumpur but caused no injuries or damage. No one claimed
responsibility and no arrests were made
5 October 2005, Reuters
Parcel Bomb Found in Georgia
No one was injured after a south Fayetteville woman discovered what is believed to be an explosive device inside her home Tuesday morning, police said.
The Clayton County Bomb Squad was called in to assist after Fayetteville officers agreed the item looked suspicious, said Fayetteville Police spokesman Steve Crawshaw.
The woman called police to her home at 180 Woodstream Way in the Woodgate subdivision around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and ultimately several nearby homes were evacuated while the bomb squad took care of the device, Crawshaw said.
The woman had received no threats before noticing the suspicious item, Crawshaw added.
“We don’t know where it came from,” he said.
Detectives collected evidence at the scene to send to the crime lab for processing and a report from the bomb squad may indicate whether the item contained explosives or not, Crawshaw said. Witnesses were also being interviewed and the investigation is ongoing, he said Tuesday afternoon.
The woman, whose name was not available at press time, is believed to be divorced, Crawshaw said.
During the
incident, one resident became irate at officers when he was not
allowed to drive home because the street had been closed off for
safety precautions, Crawshaw said. Everyone else seemed to understand,
however, he added.
4 October 2005, Fayette Citizen
Japanese Embassy Shut in Malaysia Mail Scare
A security scare swept Malaysia's diplomatic community on Tuesday after seven embassies received suspicious packages, shutting the Japanese mission, police and diplomats said.
Tokyo evacuated its embassy staff after receiving a slim package containing an oily liquid and a compact disc, similar to packages found on Tuesday by the Canadian, Italian, German, Singaporean, Philippine and Thai embassies, police said.
Police checked the liquid found in the Japanese embassy package and deemed it harmless, Kuala Lumpur police chief Mustafa Abdullah told Reuters. But he said checks were still to be carried out on those found at the other embassies.
"It's a harmless substance, just normal oil," he said.
"We have to evacuate the place, it's a normal procedure. The Thai and German embassies have also received similar packages. My men are heading there. We believe they are from the same source, and containing the same substance. But we have to verify that."
Police said the packages were shipped via express mail from the central Selangor state and the northeastern Kelantan state.
In April 2004, police said the Japanese and Singaporean diplomatic missions had received threatening letters over their countries' decision to send troops to Iraq, soon after a reported threat to assassinate the Thai ambassador in Kuala Lumpur.
The authors of the letters were not identified.
And the United States shut its embassy briefly in September 2004 after a white powder was discovered in a mailed envelope. It was later proved to be non-toxic.
The German, Singapore and Thai embassies did not evacuate their missions on Tuesday. Officials at these three embassies confirmed the police reports but declined to comment further.
A policeman at the building where the Canadian embassy is located said it had also received a suspicious package, but diplomats could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear if the Canadian mission had evacuated any staff.
"We received suspicious mail. We reported to the police and there was an announcement to evacuate the building," a Japanese embassy spokesman, Satoshi Tamai, told Reuters.
Police closed the road outside the Japanese embassy for about three hours while a team of hazardous chemicals experts wearing goggles and orange overalls went inside. Police bomb experts and firemen were also called to the scene.
The all-clear was given at about 5 p.m. (0900 GMT) and some staff returned to the embassy.
10 October 2004, Reuters
German Embassy Receives Suspicious Substance in Mail
A total of six foreign embassies in Malaysia on Tuesday almost simultaneously received small packages containing "suspicious substances", prompting an emergency evacuation of all staff, said police.
Small packages addressed to the German, Japanese, Canadian, Singaporean, Philippines and Thai embassies located in the capital Kuala Lumpur began arriving around 2 p.m. local time.
Japanese and Thai embassy staff were the first to open the packages, and discover a compact disc and an unidentified white liquid, said police. Some of the other packages contained white powder, he said.
Similar packages arrived later at the German, Canadian, Philippines and Singaporean embassies.
Police and officers from the hazardous material department were immediately called to all six locations, where an emergency evacuation was ordered for all staff. The packages and contents were collected and sent for testing.
At the German embassy, the package arrived after working hours and was opened by one of the local staff members, said embassy spokesperson Susanne Baumann.
"A small package containing white powder arrived at the embassy about 4 p.m. local time," she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
"Police were immediately contacted."
Baumann said the staff member who opened the package has also been sent to hospital for a check-up, adding that police also checked the premises of the embassy.
Fire trucks and police patrol cars were seen outside the Singapore and Philippines embassies, the last two embassies to have called in the package.
A police spokesman confirmed that all six embassies received "packages containing suspicious substances".
"The situation is under control, and we have collected all packages to be tested," he said.
He declined
to comment if all packages were linked and if police have detained
any suspects responsible for the act.
4 October 2005, Expatica
3 Mailbox Bombs Explode in Shreveport
Rocks and rubble make up what remains of Billie Philpot's brick mailbox. Philpot says someone blew it up Sunday night.
"I t was so loud it made me run from the back of the house to where the noise was," says Philpot. A shocking sight greeted Philpot at the end of his driveway.
"All these bricks were scattered all over the road," he says.
In fact, three homeowners reported blown up mailboxes on one part of Shreve Camden road just outside the Waskom, TX city limits. The suspected explosions left them all wondering why they'd been targeted.
"I don't have no enemies or anything like that," says Philpot.
Even with a mailbox only in pieces and no injuries reported , this is still not a joke. The US Post Office lists tampering with mailboxes as a federal crime. The postal service considers a confirmed mailbox bombing domestic terrorism. A conviction carries a stiff penalty: up to forty years in prison and fines.
Philpot says he feels relief no one got hurt this time.
"I f there had been a car coming at the same time this blew up, it would have hurt them a lot worse that what it is right now," he says.
And Philpot has a few beliefs about the days to come.
"Since they had so much, had such a success on blowing mine up they might get somebody else," he mentions.
About 25
mailboxes have also been reported as knocked down by cars in that
area.
3 October 2005, KSLA TV
Death Threat Letters From Animal Rights
Group Force Firms to Sever Business Links
Death threats from animal rights extremists have forced nine companies to sever links with the controversial animal research company Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).
Letters sent by a group calling themselves the Animal Rights Militia (ARM) to the home addresses of directors said "your family is a target" and they would "suffer the consequences" if they did not comply with a two-week deadline to sever all links.
It emerged last week that directors of Leapfrog Day Nurseries had received similar letters. The company had offered childcare vouchers to staff at HLS - something they have now stopped. Now nine companies - more than half of those targeted - have severed links with HLS.
Many of the firms targeted did not even work directly for HLS - one had simply collected three lorry-loads of rubble from a construction site. Most of the companies are small-scale building contractors in the Peterborough, Huntingdon and Harrogate areas.
The letters, sent to the homes of directors at 17 companies, said: "The company you work for is working with Huntingdon Life Sciences. This is a disgusting and cowardly act. You have a choice. You can walk away from those sick monsters or you can personally face the consequences of your decision. Not only you but your family is a target. Sever your links with HLS within two weeks or get ready for your life and the lives of those you love to become a living hell."
The letters also referred to the "victory" against the Hall family at Darley Oaks Farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, who were targeted by animal rights extremists for breeding guinea pigs for medical research. During a six-year campaign, the remains of a family relative, Gladys Hammond, were dug up and stolen. They have never been retrieved. The family announced in August that they would no longer breed guinea pigs.
More companies may decide to sever their ties with HLS this week. Ian Bailes, a director of Most Construction in Harrogate, which has carried out some building work for HLS, said the firm would be making a decision shortly.
"The tactics have changed," Mr Bailes said. "Vocal protests are fine ... That is not a problem. It is the militant ones that are a problem. The police need to wipe them out."
It is a view echoed by the organisation co-ordinating the police response to animal rights extremism, the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit. "A lot of people think they target big pharmaceutical companies," a spokesman said, "but they go after companies with any link, however tenuous."
Police believe the number of activists engaged in criminal activity is relatively small. "There are perhaps 10 to 15 full-time organisers identifying targets," a police source said. "Then there is a wider network of 40 to 50 activists who are prepared to commit the crimes. Beyond that there are up to 600 to 700 supporters maximum. They know what is going on and turn a blind eye."
The main campaign against HLS has been run by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. Greg Avery, Shac's founder, welcomed the companies' withdrawal but denied his organisation had anything to do with the threatening letters sent by ARM. "These letters are not something we condone or support," he said. "It is something we have condemned hundreds of times." But he warned that "lots of activists are really, really angry", and predicted that people could get more violent.
Brian Cass, managing director of HLS, accused Shac of orchestrating the violence. "Companies are named by Shac and then the trouble begins. Shac, Animal Rights Militia, Animal Liberation Front are to all intents and purposes the same thing."
A police spokesman
pointed to the example of Sarah Gisbourne, a Shac activist serving
a six-and-a-half-year sentence for attacking property connected
to HLS. "Based on historical experience, they can be seen
as one and the same," he said.
2 October 2005, The Independent
British Animal Rights Activists Spread Violence on Continent
British animal rights extremists have exported their campaign of intimidation to Europe to force a Cambridgeshire laboratory to stop testing medicines on animals.
The move was agreed at a conference of activists that, according to one participant, told members to “get ready to get globally active”.
It is understood that on the fringes of the same gathering hardliners decided to include violent harassment in the campaign abroad. Since the meeting, executives in nine European countries have had their homes attacked and their cars vandalised.
The expansion of the campaign by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac) comes amid a new wave of violence in Britain. Leapfrog Day Nurseries, a childcare chain, recently cancelled a contract with Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) — Shac’s target — after its staff were threatened with having their homes attacked.
It also emerged last month that the home of Paul Blackburn, an executive with GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceuticals giant, had been bombed by suspected animal rights terrorists.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) said this weekend that it would be mounting its biggest campaign in Scotland for 15 years to target the buildings of Inveresk Research in East Lothian, which uses rabbits to test the effects of breast implants.
Shac’s European offensive was planned at a meeting held from July 15 to 18 in a field in Kent. HLS tests drugs on animals for the pharmaceuticals industry which researchers say is vital for new medicines to be developed. Shac targets not only HLS but also companies that do business with it.
The move to Europe has opened new opportunities for some of Shac’s leading members, who have had their activities in Britain curtailed by court injunctions and antisocial behavior orders (Asbos).
Earlier this year Heather Nicholson, 38, co-founder of Shac with her former husband Greg Avery, was made the subject of a five-year Asbo that prevents her going within 500 yards of HLS premises or approaching other companies with links to animal testing.
She was made subject to the Asbo after being convicted of assault at the Gloucestershire premises of Phytopharm, the drugs company. Nicholson has served several prison sentences.
Nicholson and another British activist, Daniel Wadham, have been leading the European campaign and were arrested in Sweden last month. Nicholson said on her release last week: “It’s frustrating to be taken out of the fight even for a minute, but it helps when you know that when it happens everyone doubles their efforts and HLS collaborators are hit hard.”
She and Wadham have been present at protests in Switzerland, Germany and possibly elsewhere. The campaign has also hit Belgium, France, Italy, Holland, Ireland and Finland.
Shac’s website describes a demonstration against Roche, the pharmaceuticals company, in Finland last month: “We managed to get inside this building . . . Nobody from Roche dared to come down to see us.”
The protesters moved on to the homes of a senior figure at the Finnish subsidiary of Novartis and another at Menlo. Both companies have done business with HLS.
Several Shac protests occurred within days of much more serious attacks on executives’ homes. Shac denies sponsoring violence but in the past has failed to condemn such actions.
In Finland, unknown activists poured paint stripper on an executive’s car and vandalised his home. The attack was a few days before the more peaceful protests for which Shac has claimed responsibility.
In Switzerland, on the same day that Shac was demonstrating, an attack was launched on the home of a director of Roche. “We paint-stripped his car, slashed the car tyres and spray-painted the garage door with the words ‘Drop HLS, animal killer, ALF’,” said a report on a website linked to the ALF.
2 October 2005, The Times
Animal Liberation Front Targets Staff at Scottish Firm
Animal rights extremists are planning a terror campaign against staff at a Scottish laboratory that has experimented with rabbits fitted with cosmetic breast implants.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has warned Inveresk Research International, in East Lothian, that it will use similar tactics to those which forced the closure of the Hull family’s Darley Oaks Farm in Staffordshire, including fire-raising and criminal damage. The Hall family’s farm had been supplying Huntingdon Life Sciences, the animal testing company, with guinea pigs.
An ALF spokesman said that activists from south of the border would travel north to mount the biggest campaign in Scotland for the past 15 years.
It follows the publication last week of internal Inveresk documents on the website of Animal Defenders International (ADI), the pressure group. An ADI report accompanying the documents, which features on the ALF website, alleges that unnecessary suffering has been endured by rabbits, dogs, rats and monkeys at the lab. Other websites linked to ALF described Inveresk as an “animal death camp”.
The documents revealed that breast implants had been inserted into the backs of white rabbits to test for tissue compatability. The rabbits were killed a month after the experiments were concluded.
Photographs from the laboratory also showed rows of dogs restrained by harnesses with masks clamped over their noses, being forced to inhale fumes.
The report alleged that several beagles had a toxic drug mistakenly pumped into their lungs, causing a painful death, and that 10 rats were killed after being forced to breathe paint for more than 30 minutes.
“With ADI highlighting this area of animal abuse, Inveresk will become a target,” said an ALF spokesman. “This research unit would be better spending its time on real medical programmes rather than working on a Scottish version of The Island of Dr Moreau.
“(The campaign will include) raids to liberate animals and economic sabotage ranging from graffiti through to major arson attacks on empty buildings. Intimidation pales into insignificance when you consider the terrible indignity and torture carried out in these units behind closed doors”.
Inveresk said it had stepped up its security measures.
“Needless to say, the wellbeing of our employees is a major concern since it has become apparent that a number of activist groups have become more extreme in their modus operandi,” said a spokesman.
“It would be irresponsible of us to disclose the additional measures we have taken but you may assume that we are more diligent in this area.”
The company defended its record, claiming that ADI and other animal rights activists had made unfounded accusations about the nature and timing of the work Inveresk conducts. The breast implant tests referred to had taken place more than five years ago, he said.
The company’s animal testing was humane and it was engaged in developing medicines and other products that were important for human health, he added.
“Inveresk is dedicated to helping our pharmaceutical customers to develop safe and effective drugs and medical devices that fight human diseases such as Aids, cancer, diabetes and myriad life-threatening illnesses that affect millions of people every year.
“Inveresk and the customers we serve have an ethical obligation to develop life-saving drugs that are not only effective in curing or alleviating the pain caused by these diseases, but are safe to use.”
Inveresk claims that testing on animals in the drug development process is not optional but is required by law from national and international regulatory agencies before pharmaceutical companies are allowed to progress to human clinical trials.
“Without animal testing, clinical trials in people would become so dangerous that no authority would allow them to be conducted,” the company spokesman said.
The actions of animal rights extremists have been causing concern since the remains of Gladys Hammond, an 82-year-old relative of the Hall family, were stolen from her grave in Staffordshire.
Last week a nursery which offered childcare vouchers to Huntingdon Life Sciences’ employees severed all links with the company after it was told that its staff would “suffer the consequences”, while an Oxford college was the target of an arson attack.
The campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences is also exporting its intimidation to Europe. The move was agreed at a conference of activists that, according to one participant, told members to “get ready to get globally active”.
It is understood
that on the fringes of the same gathering hardliners decided to
include violent harassment in the campaign abroad. Executives
in nine European countries have had their homes attacked and their
cars vandalised.
2 October 2005, The Sunday Times
Animal Rights Activists Target Children’s Nurseries with
HLS Links
Animal-rights extremists have threatened to target children's nurseries in their campaign to drive a British-based vivisection company out of business.
In an escalation of the intimidation against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the country's largest daycare provider, Leapfrog Day Nurseries, confirmed yesterday that it had been warned to sever all links with the group.
Letters sent to the home addresses of company directors threatened that the childcare company, which has 10,000 places nationwide, would 'suffer the consequences' if it did not withdraw a vouchers scheme offered to HLS employees within seven days.
Leapfrog said last night that it had decided to end the vouchers scheme immediately because of the threat from the Animal Rights Militia.
A spokesman for the nursery company said: 'Whilst threats of any sort are totally unacceptable, we have to take them seriously. The care of the children and our staff is of paramount concern. Our business is childcare and we have to take every precaution when it comes to the security and safety of these children and our employees.'
Anti-vivisection militants, who have led a long campaign against Cambridgeshire- based HLS, have stepped up their operations in the last month.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) this week claimed responsibility for a firebomb left outside the Buckinghamshire home of Paul Blackburn, a senior executive with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical giant, which has links with HLS.
The device exploded on the porch of the house while Mr Blackburn's wife and daughter were at home
An incendiary device was also placed at a sports pavilion in Oxford owned by Corpus Christi College as a protest against a primate laboratory being built by the university. The bomb failed to properly explode.
But the threat against a company caring for children represents a shift in tactics.
Leapfrog was named in a list of 17 companies posted five days ago on Biteback, an American-based website used by activists to publicize their activities.
HLS recently obtained an injunction banning campaigners from targeting any of its sites and militants claimed they were circumventing the ban by focusing on suppliers. But the website message naming Leapfrog said: 'We checked in the injunction and can see nothing which prohibits the sending of letters promising to come round and smash the directors' houses up unless they cut all links ... One last thing " this is not a threat but a promise.'
While the number of incidents by anti-vivisectionists has decreased, experts have expressed concern that the severity of the attacks is intensifying.
The Association
of the British Pharmaceutical Industry warned last month of death
or serious injury if the activists were not halted
29 September 2005, The Independent
Animal Liberation Front Bombs Home of Glaxo
Chief
Animal rights activists detonated a bomb on the doorstep of a senior pharmaceutical executive as militants threatened to carry out more attacks.
The Animal Liberation Front boasted it had planted the device at the home of Paul Blackburn, the corporate controller of GlaxoSmithKline, Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company.
In a statement on a US website it claims it carried out the attack because of the company's links with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a research center that has long been a target for activists. It also claims to have tracked down other GSK employees and threatens they will "face the consequences".
The statement said: "We, Brigade G of the Animal Liberation Front, detonated a bomb on the doorstep of GlaxoSmithKline director Paul Blackburn. This contained two litres of fuel and four pounds of explosives.
"We did this because GSK is a customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences and GSK we realise that this may not be enough to make you stop using HLS, but GSK this is just the beginning.
"We have identified and tracked down many of your senior executives and also junior staff.
Drop HLS or you will face the consequences.
For all the animals inside HLS, we will be back."
It is understood Mr Blackburn was abroad but his family were at the house in the Home Counties. The device caused minor damage.
Activists also planted incendiary devices in protest at a primate laboratory being built by Oxford University. A bomb was discovered at a sports pavilion owned by Corpus Christi College on Saturday. It is understood the device was disabled.
It is not
clear whether that attack is linked to one on an unoccupied house
owned by Christchurch College last Friday
28 September
2005, The Independent
Parcel Bomb Kills Russian Birthday Boy
A parcel bomb has killed a man celebrating his 23rd birthday in Nizhny Novgorod, central Russia, the Cry.ru web-site reported on Thursday.
The web-site writes that the man whose name was given as Anatoly Russkikh celebrated his birthday in own apartment. At the party he opened a box that was sent not to him, but to his female relative who had come to visit him from Germany. The box exploded, killing the young man and wounding those who were in the apartment.
Police have
established that the bomb was brought to a shop near the victim’s
house by an unidentified man who paid a salesgirl to deliver it
to Russkikh’s apartment.
29 September 2005, MosNews
Animal Liberation Front Terrorism Effective
in UK and USA
GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.'s largest drugmaker, said the home of one of its senior employees was attacked Sept. 7. An anti-vivisection group, the Animal Liberation Front, claimed responsibility.
``We can confirm that an attack on a GSK employee took place at his home in Beaconsfield,'' England, Chris Hunter-Ward, a spokesman for London-based Glaxo, said in an interview today.
The Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, left an explosive device containing fuel outside the home of Glaxo's corporate controller, Paul Blackburn, the Times of London newspaper said today. Blackburn wasn't at home when the device exploded, causing minor damage, the Times reported.
Glaxo was singled out because it's a customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences, according to the ALF's Web site. ``We realize that this may not be enough to make you stop using HLS, but, GSK, this is just the beginning,'' the Web site said, citing unnamed activists in the U.K.
``GSK recognizes the commitment made by the U.K. government to bring animal rights terrorism under control and is looking forward to seeing this happen,'' Hunter-Ward said.
The Times also reported today that animal rights activists attacked a sports pavilion at Oxford University's Corpus Christi College Sept. 24, in protest of the construction of a laboratory for primates.
Unnamed animal rights activists warned on a Web site called Bite Back that they would destroy all of the university's property unless construction of the laboratory is stopped, London's Guardian newspaper reported.
On Sept. 7,
the New York Stock Exchange unexpectedly postponed the listing
of Life Sciences Research Inc., the parent of Huntingdon Life,
after phone and e-mail protests from animal- rights groups.
28 Septemer 2005, Bloomberg News
Suspicious Mail Causes Panic and Evacuation on College Campus
A suspicious package was delivered to the Admissions Office of BSC Wednesday, causing an evacuation and panic throughout the afternoon. The package was partially open, wet, and emitting a foul smell when it was received by an employee. The employee also said a gas like substance appeared to release from the 5x8 sized envelope. It was brought to the mail room, and was immediately deemed a suspicious parcel.
"It was disruptive," said BSC Police Chief David Tillinghast.
The BSC police, Bridgewater Fire Department, and the Massachusetts Hazardous Materials Response team responded to the scene. The Admissions Office building was searched, but nothing was found. The envelope was placed in a container and sent to the Massachusetts Crime Lab to be further investigated. It was addressed to 131 Summer Street (the main address of BSC) with the attention to the Admissions Office. The envelope was processed at the Brockton Post Office, not displaying a return address.
None of the employees required treatment at the scene.
"We wanted to make sure the admissions office was okay," said Chief Tillinghast. "It was our main priority."
The staff was sent home for the day. No other campus buildings, personnel, or students were affected.
Whether this was an inconvenient hoax or an attempt to seriously injure, it can still be charged as a federal crime because it was sent through the U.S. Postal Service.
"It's a serious felony," said Chief Tillinghast. "If we ever did (try to handle a suspicious package), we don't anymore.
After September 11, 2001 and a string of envelopes contained with anthrax, the commonwealth passed a law allowing a mere hoax to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Chief Tillinghast urged college employees to fall on the side of caution if they see or receive a suspicious package delivered to their offices.
"There
are three rules to follow," he said. "Don't touch, get
out of the area to safety and call campus police," said Tillinghast
22
September 2005, Campus News
Suspicious Package Destroyed—Anti-Stress Device
A parcel which contained an anti-stress device and which was addressed to the European ombudsman and seized by a European Parliament security guard in Strasbourg Friday was apparently sent by an unknown Czech inventor.
Alessandro Del Bon from the Ombudsman Office said yesterday that although everything indicates a Czech inventor who sent the package, the information could not be completely verified.
Del Bon said that the package could have contained a model of a device rejected by a patent office and was part of a possible complaint addressed to the European ombudsman. Or it could have been an expression of gratitude for the help in a case. The intention could be either good or bad, he said.
The Ombudsman Office is seeking to learn the name and the address of the sender.
Del Bon said that it would be necessary to write the sender so that he knew what had happened to his package and ask him what purpose he intended by sending it to the European ombudsman.
Strasbourg police disposed of the parcel, fearing it contained a bomb. Police later found that the package contained a prototype vibrating anti-stress belt.
EP security guards, who X-ray all postal packages, sounded the alarm on Friday after they noticed wires and electronic devices in the parcel. Police immediately arrived with an armoured container in which they transported the Czech parcel to a nearby construction side and detonated it.
A police spokesman
said the parcel bore a label and instructions in several languages
for using the anti-stress device.
20 Septemer 2005, Prague Daily Monitor
Car
bomb explodes in Spain after ETA warning
A car bomb exploded at an industrial park in central Spain on
Saturday but there were no casualties in the first attack in two
months by the armed Basque separatist group ETA.
Two Basque newspapers had received calls in the name of ETA warning a bomb would explode at the industrial park, officials said. That gave police time to evacuate the area, a few miles (kms) from the historic walled town of Avila, west of Madrid.
"The police arrived and told us we had two minutes to get out," Juan Carlos Fernandez, a worker at a printing plant, told state radio. He said the blast occurred soon afterwards.
Three buildings were damaged by the bomb, which police believed was placed in a van parked nearby, officials said.
ETA, which has killed nearly 850 people since it began its separatist campaign in 1968, did not stage its usual August bombing campaign at holiday resorts this year, fuelling speculation a truce could be imminent.
The last time ETA struck was on July 29 when it planted bombs alongside two roads out of Madrid as millions of people flooded out of cities to begin summer holidays. There were no casualties.
PEACE OVERTURES
In an unprecedented overture, Spain's 18-month-old Socialist government said in May it would talk to the group if it stopped violence, and the separatists responded with calls for a peace process and a partial ceasefire against elected politicians.
But a month later a newspaper reported ETA as saying it would still target members of the government.
On Tuesday, ETA claimed responsibility for five attacks in the past few months in a letter to the Basque newspaper Gara.
ETA, branded a terrorist organization by Spain, the European Union and the United States, has carried out a bombing and shooting campaign for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.
Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso condemned Saturday's attack in a statement, saying the government was determined to press on until "the definitive disappearance of terrorism."
Spanish media said the blast occurred near a printing factory run by a brother-in-law of former Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez and not far from a police training center.
ETA has been weakened in the past few years by a sustained police crackdown that has led to hundreds of arrests in France and Spain. It has not carried out a fatal attack for more than two years.
The opposition conservative Popular Party, fiercely critical of government policy on ETA, also condemned Saturday's attack.
"ETA has to be beaten using the law and police effectiveness and not through dialogue with murderers," the party's secretary general, Angel Acebes, said in a statement.
25 Sep 2005,
Reuters
5
Killed, 23 Wounded, by 2 Bomb Blasts in Pakistan City
Two bomb blasts hit the eastern city of Lahore today, killing
at least 5 people and wounding at least 23, police officials said.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but police officials speculated that the intention was to cause panic in the city. 'There is similarity in the blasts though there is a difference of intensity," the senior superintendent of police operations in Lahore, Amir Zulfiqar, said.
Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, is the second biggest city of Pakistan with a population of more than 10 million. It is also known as the literary and cultural capital of the country and has remained peaceful in recent months while other cities like Karachi and Quetta have been hit by sectarian attacks.
Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi, Punjab's chief minister, said on television: "It is too early to say what was the motive of the blasts but one thing is for certain: people behind these terrorist acts are not only against the country but also against humanity." Mr. Ilahi said security had been increased following the blasts.
The first blast occurred at 10:55 a.m. near a tower built in a public park as a monument to the independence struggle against the British. Police officials said the bomb was strapped to a bicycle parked near a tobacco kiosk. One person was killed and seven were wounded by bomb disposal squad officials said was a low-intensity home-made device.
An hour later, the second blast occurred in the busy Icchra shopping neighborhood. The bomb was planted on a bicycle parked near a flower shop. Four people died, including a woman and a child, and at least 16 were wounded, officials said. Pakistan has seen a spate of terrorist attacks in recent years following President Pervez Musharraf's decision to ally the country with the United States in the war against terror. President Musharraf himself has been a target of two assassination attempts.
23 Sep 2005, NY Times
A home-made bomb left on the doorstep of a Melbourne house exploded and injured a woman as she opened the front door.
The device exploded as the 48-year-old woman opened the door to investigate a noise outside her house at Glen Waverley, in east Melbourne, police said.
The blast, shortly before 9pm (AEST) yesterday, smashed three windows and caused damage to light fittings and the veranda.
The woman was taken to the Monash Hospital with minor injuries including damaged hearing.
"It appears that an unknown person had placed a small explosive device on the front veranda," Victoria Police media officer Sharee Argento said today.
"The woman opened ... the front door after hearing a disturbance (and) the device then exploded."
A youth was seen running away from the premises about the time of the blast.
17 Sep 2005,
The Courier Mail
UK
TV Star Targeted by Stalker and Mail Threats
Coronation Street star Kate Ford has called police after a mysterious stalker posted a threatening note to her home, The People reports.
The actress, who plays man-eater Tracy Barlow in the soap, was previously the victim of a stalker last year, when a series of bizarre letters containing 50 pence were posted to her at Coronation Street's headquarters.
In the latest case, two letters have again been sent to the soap's Manchester studio bearing the same signature as the new note sent to the actress's home.
Greater Manchester police have confirmed that they have launched an investigation into the anonymous post Ford is receiving.
"We were called on Thursday by a member of staff at Granada TV who had received some suspicious mail," a police spokesman told The People.
"It has
been seized by police and investigations are continuing."
18 Sep 2005, UK News
DHL Goes to Court to Protect Employees from Animal Rights Activists After Addresses Published on Web
DHL has lived up to its speedy reputation in making a dash to the High Court to protect its 18,000 staff from harassment at the hands of animal rights protesters.
The court heard the giant courier company is concerned for the safety of its workers after it appeared on protesters' "target list" because of its commercial links with Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).
DHL's lawyer, Tim Lawson- Cruttenden, said others connected with HLS - including banks, insurance and pharmaceutical companies - had suffered "terrorism" at the hands of campaigners, including roof-top protests, office invasions, vandalism, arson, bomb hoaxes and bombardment with abusive mail and phone calls.
Individual employees could not feel safe, with their names and addresses emblazoned on campaign websites and protesters targeting their homes, smashing windows and pouring paint stripper on their cars, he added.
There had already been some incidents involving DHL, including vandalism of vehicles and protesters targeting directors' homes.
After a full day of legal arguments, Judge Mr Justice Bean, issued an interim injunction forbidding protesters from harassing, intimidating or pestering DHL staff, their families or those who visit the company's premises.
The judge also threw up 40-metre "exclusion zones" around all the 288 sites operated by DHL in England and Wales where even peaceful protests would not be permitted.
Campaigners must also give police four hours notice if they intend encroaching within 140 metres of DHL premises and are also banned from going within 100 metres of the homes of DHL staff and "protected persons".
Any breach of the injunction will be a contempt of court, punishable by imprisonment as a last resort.
The injunction was granted with the consent of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), and named individuals. SHAC denies any involvement in, or encouragement of, unlawful protests.
DHL is also seeking injunctions against the Animal Liberation Front and other protest groups, along with Keith Mann, from Poole, Dorset, who is currently in prison for contempt of court and a raid on a laboratory in which 700 mice were stolen. These were adjourned for a hearing on another day.
¦ Last
week HLS was forced out of a planned flotation on the New York
stock market after threats from animal rights activists. Brian
Cass, HLS chief executive, was on the trading floor when the announcement
was made.
16 Sep 2005, Cambridge Evening News
Mail Bomb Kills One at Italian Police Barracks
A small bomb exploded at a barracks near Rome on Wednesday, killing one officer of the Carabinieri paramilitary police and wounding another, an officer said.
"It was an explosive device," the officer said, declining to give his name. It was not clear how the device was taken into the barracks, but Italian police are often the target of small parcel bombs sent by local militants, usually anarchists. The device exploded in a room used for sorting mail at the Carabinieri barracks in Latina, south of the capital, a police source said. The Caribinieri ordered all other barracks in the region to be searched for bombs.
Italy, which
has troops in Iraq, is on a high state of alert in case of a terrorist
attack similar to bombings that have struck Madrid and London
over the last two years.
14 Sep 2005, Reuters
Three Pipe Bombs Explode in Huntington Beach, Calf.
Three pipe bombs have exploded in the city in recent days, and police warned residents Thursday to alert officials and stay clear if any suspicious devices are spotted.
The bombs are made with galvanized-metal pipe and contain a black-powder explosive. They are designed to cause serious injury and property damage, police said.
At least one of the bombs was hidden inside another object.
The three explosions caused no injuries or serious property damage.
The bombs exploded at Holland Drive and Marken Lane about 9:50 p.m. Aug. 31; at Pacific Coast Highway and 12th Street about 12:30 a.m. Monday; and at Frankfort Avenue and Hill Street about 8:15 p.m. Monday.
Police are
looking for a possible suspect, described as a man in his early
20s and 6 feet tall. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, denim
shorts, a white T-shirt and a white windbreaker.
9 Sep 2005, Orange County Register
Scottish Businesses Urged to Do More to Guard Against Terrorist Attacks
Scottish companies will be urged to do more in order to safeguard their businesses against the threat of a terrorist attack at today’s [8 September]Resilient Community Exercise which has been organised by the Scottish Continuity Group.
Emergency services and local organisations including Tayside Police and Scotland Online are joining forces at the event, which is being held in Dundee, to stress the importance of business continuity planning and outline what steps should be taken to ensure that a company can continue to trade in the event of a disaster.
In a press release to highlight the event, Alan Dawson, a board member of the Scottish Continuity Group and business continuity development manager at Scotland Online, explained why there is concern that not enough companies in Scotland are investing in business continuity. He states:
“Business continuity planning should be an important consideration for any organisation but too many companies in Scotland are just not doing enough and are leaving themselves exposed.
“Terrorism is not the only threat facing businesses today, a gas-leak or flood, a burglary or simple vandalism could seriously affect the day-to-day running of a company and if effective back-up systems are not in place then companies will lose trade.
“Some may even be unable to continue in business after such an interruption, especially if cash flow is tight, and if they have not legislated for unexpected contingencies.
“Many cite cost as a reason for not implementing a disaster recovery plan, but more often than not all it takes is simple common sense, such as backing-up your files on a daily basis and storing them in a secure location off-site.
“What we are trying to do through the Resilient Community Exercise is to create awareness amongst both public and private sector organisations, of the importance of having such plans and providing them with the know-how on how to shape them.”
Chief Constable of Tayside Police, John Vine, supports Mr Dawson’s comments, saying: “Planning is everything. Terrorism planning, protecting employees as well as business information and facilities, needs to be taken seriously by senior management and boards of directors.
“Building a secure business is not just about supply and demand. It is about the protection and prevention measures that you can put in place against crime, the consequences of a natural disaster, electronic attack, acts of terrorism and other events that would have an impact on your business.
“Businesses
can do much to reduce vulnerabilities by taking time to review
their preparedness to deal with emergencies and put simple and
often inexpensive security measures in place. From the basics
of identifying where your business is vulnerable to making sure
you have suitable IT security such as passwords and making sure
your key suppliers have plans in place to continue business if
they are the ones affected.”
8 Sep 2005 Continuity Journal
Eco-Radicals Join Neo-Nazis on Domestic
Terror List
U.S. government securityagencies disagree on the threats posed by domestic radical rights groups.
Ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing left 168 people dead, one national security agency believes the groups do not pose a substantial threat, while another labels white supremacists as"terrorists" -- along with anti-war groups, affirmative action organizations and animal rights activists.
The apparent inconsistencies are contained in documents recently made public from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI.
A draft internal document from the DHS obtained by The Congressional Quarterly lists the only serious domestic terrorist threats as radical animal rights and environmental groups such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front.
But an FBI report released to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last week lumps neo-Nazi groups such as the Michigan Militia and the Aryan World Church together as potential terrorists with organizations such as the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action,
Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (BAMN) -- a national civil rights and affirmative action organization.
The FBI report was prepared by a counterintelligence agent at the agency's Detroit field office for a Domestic Terrorism Symposium hosted by the Michigan State Police.
The FBI report acknowledges that BAMN's demonstrations werepeaceful.
The anti-war group Direct Action and the East Lansing Animal Rights Movement are also listed in the report for taking part in a Lansing, Mich., protest that targeted the FBI. The ACLU obtained the report following a freedom of information lawsuit on behalf of nine organizations and individuals in Michigan.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a research and advocacy organization that tracks hate crimes, "But for all the property damage they have wreaked, eco-radicals have killed no one something that most definitely cannot be said of the white supremacists and others who people the American radical right."
Linking BAMN with white supremacists or to terrorism is "absolutely outrageous," a BAMN spokesman told The Detroit News.
"The American people are going to be outraged that their government is spying on groups standing up for affirmative action and education," he said.
Brian J. Foley, a professor at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, told IPS, "Police should focus on groups that use violence, period."
"One of the great things about the U.S. is that we are supposed to be able to believe and espouse whatever views we want, without government intervention or censorship," Foley said. "Groups should be included on 'terror lists' only if they use violence, not simply because police and politicians find their views distasteful or challenging to the status quo."
In a new publication, "Ten Years of Terror," the SPLC says that close to 60 right-wing domestic terrorist plots have been uncovered since the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla.
These have included plans to bomb or burn government buildings, banks, refineries, utilities, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politicians, civil rights figures and others; to rob banks, armored cars and other criminals; and to amass illegal machine guns, missiles, explosives, and biological and chemical weapons.
For example, in July 1995, an anti-government extremist was arrested after trying to purchase a machine gun from an undercover police officer, and was later indicted by a federal grand jury for plotting to blow up the Internal Revenue Service building in Austin, Texas.
In November of the same year, a leader of the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia, his wife and another man were arrested as they prepared explosives to bomb numerous targets, including the SPLC, gay bars and abortion clinics.
The following year, apparently inspired by his reading of a neo-Nazi tract, a white supremacist killed one black man and wounded seven other people, including a reporter, during a shooting spree in a black neighborhood in Jackson, Miss. A search of his home found 17 guns, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, several knives and countless military manuals.
In 1997, police raided the home of an alleged Ku Klux Klan member, discovering 35,000 rounds of heavy ammunition, armor-piercing shells, smoke and tear gas grenades, live shells for grenade launchers, artillery shells and other military gear.
Later that year, three Ku Klux Klan members were arrested in a plot to blow up a natural gas refinery outside Fort Worth, Texas, after a local Klan leader got cold feet and went to the FBI. The three, along with a fourth arrested later, expected to kill a huge number of people with the blast -- authorities later said as many as 30,000 might have died.
In 1998, a South Carolina militia member was charged with weapons, explosives and drug violations after allegedly trying to trade drugs for a machine gun and enough C-4 plastic explosive to demolish a five-room house. The following year, he pled guilty to an array of charges, including threatening to kill then-Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh.
In 2003, federal agents charged the national leader of the neo-Nazi World Church of the Creator, soliciting the murder of federal Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, whose mother and husband were later murdered by another person.
Last year alone, the Department of Justice prosecuted four domestic terrorism crimes.
A Neo-Nazi skinhead videotaped himself as he firebombed an Oklahoma City synagogue. A former National Guardsman was arrestedafter checking into a mental health facility and telling counselors about plans to blow up a synagogue and a National Guard armory.
FBI agents in Tennessee arrested a farmhand after he allegedly tried to purchase ingredients for deadly sarin nerve gas and C-4 plastic explosives from an undercover agent. And officials in New Jersey arrested two men they say asked a police informant to build them a bomb.
Timothy McVeigh,
a former Army soldier, was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing.
One of his accomplices, Terry Nichols, has been sentenced to life
in prison without parole.
7 Sep 2005, Press Service English News Wire
NY Stock Exchange Postponed Animal Research Company Listing After Threats by Animal Rights Activists
Wall Street has caved in to pressure from animal rights activists, postponing the listing of medical research firm Huntingdon Life Sciences for fear of attack by zealots.
Huntingdon, originally based in Cambridge, was forced to move its headquarters to America after a long campaign against it by animal rights activists.
The US company, Life Sciences Research, set up as a holding company for Huntingdon, currently trades on Nasdaq and was due to start trading on the Big Board yesterday but was asked by the exchange at the last minute to postpone its debut on worries that Wall Street would be a target.
The fears appear to be well-grounded after the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a New York yacht club which it said had members trading in Huntingdon shares. The group daubed slogans in red paint on the walls.
'Let this be a message to any other company who chooses to court HLS in their...entrance into the NYSE,' ALF's website said. 'If you trade in LSR shares, make a market, process orders or purchase shares, you can expect far worse treatment.'
Huntingdon was forced from the London Stock Exchange in 2001 after advisers and investors became the focus of protests. The firm has long been a target of activists and chief executive Brian Cass has been attacked.
8 Sep 2005, Evening Standard
Managing Director Targeted With Threat Letters and Attacks After Home Address Posted on Animal Rights Extremist Website
Police were last night investigating an alleged hate campaign by animal rights activists involving a North Wales man.
Llanberis company Euro/DPC said it was forced to step up security claiming extremists vandalised the managing director's car.
The protesters also allegedly scrawled graffiti on his house in the middle of the night.
The company said the attack happened after its phone number and address was posted on an animal rights website along with claims of links with long-standing saboteurs' target Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The Gwynedd company, which employs 400 people, supplies Huntington with products used to detect disease, as well as the NHS and pathology labs.
North Wales police were investigating the incident and said a response plan was put in place to combat the threat of any future attacks.
The managing director, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said: "They poured paint stripper over my car at 2am - by the time I saw it at 7am it had been stripped down to bare metal in many places.
"They also sprayed graffiti on the garage door and slashed my tyres.
"But the financial aspect of that is neither here nor there. My concern is for the safety of my wife and my teenage children.
"While there was no bodily damage to any member of my family, it was the attempt to cause psychological damage.
"These people are campaigning because they are trying to stop cruelty to animals, but they perform cruelty through their activities. It is perverse to me.
"We have had two demonstrations outside the company, we have had foul and abusive phone calls to the receptionists and get the occasional letter.
"Some of the letters are quite rational but others are anonymous and threatening.
"I recognise the right of the campaign to peaceful protest, but when some choose to go beyond that I have difficulty with the whole campaign and it devalues it."
He said Euro/DPC tightened security since the attacks.
"We have had to lock down the facility much tighter than we thought we would ever have to in reaction and response to this campaign," he said. "As long as it is running, we are a target."
Extremists want 50 named companies to sever links with English firm Huntingdon Life Sciences, which admits testing on animals.
Caernarfon-based
superintendent Mark Jones, deputy divisional commander of the
police's west division, said: "We have a response plan in
place which aims to ensure that the rule of law and the Queen's
peace are maintained."
5 Sep 2005, Daily Post
