Spain woke up this Thursday on high alert from a series of letter bombs which were intercepted in the last few hours and which were addressed to President Pedro Sánchez and the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, among other names to which the envelopes were addressed.
Until now, there would be six shipments with explosive pyrotechnics, of which only one injured a security agent of the Ukrainian embassy in Spain.
Just this Thursday it was learned that the envelope intended for President Sánchez and which never reached his hands was taken over by the security department of the government presidency on November 24thin the Moncloa Palace, while filtering Sánchez’s correspondence.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior have justified having kept silent about the episode “because there is an ongoing investigation”.
Safety
The other inflammatory letters were sent to the Torrejón de Ardoz air base, to the Defense Ministry, to a Zaragoza company that produces weapons to be sent to Kiev and to the Ukrainian and US embassies in Madrid, which yesterday blocked via Serrano, fenced the area of the city surrounding the diplomatic headquarters e people evacuated which was in the surrounding buildings.
The envelope that arrived at the Ukrainian diplomatic mission was the only one that generated an explosion, i.e. it burned but did not cause an explosion. It was addressed to Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev but was opened by a security officer who was the only one so far who sustained minor injuries.
The other packages have been deactivated in time.
This was ordered by the Ministry of the Interior strengthen security in all Spanish public buildings and the national court investigates the letters as a possible act of terrorism.
Most of the envelopes, sent by simple post, arrived at their destination on Thursday.
The first was delivered before dawn, between three and four in the morning, at the Torrejón de Ardoz military base, 20 kilometers from the center of Madrid. It was addressed to the European Union (EU) Satellite Centre, the geospatial intelligence agency which is currently in charge of satellite monitoring of Ukraine.
281 days after the Russian invasion on Ukrainian soil, Ambassador Pohoreltsev he targeted Vladimir Putin as a possible suspect of having bagged the explosive material that arrived at his embassy: “We know the terrorist methods of the aggressor country and we are ready for any type of emergency that may arise”, said Pohoreltsev.
However, the Russian diplomatic mission in Spain has condemned the chain mailings of explosive letters via its Twitter account.
“Any threat or terrorist act, even more directed against a diplomatic mission, they are totally damned”, says the statement.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has ordered to strengthen security in all of his country’s embassies around the world.
Another envelope with pyrotechnic material had already arrived on Wednesday afternoon at the facilities of the Instalaza munitions companyin Monreal street in the historic center of Zaragoza.
against a minister
The company produces grenade launchers and weapons with which Spain supports Ukraine.
On the morning of this Thursday, the Police Explosive Disposal Specialist Technicians (TEDAX) detonated the bomb that had arrived at the Ministry of Defense for Minister Margarita Robles.
And around noon, the security agents of the US Embassy in Madrid they identified a package similar to the description of received letter bombs that have been circulated since the beginning.
“Both the characteristics of the envelopes and their contents are similar,” said the secretary of state for security, Rafael Pérez, who also confirmed that the explosive material was homemade.
He did not assure it, but hinted that it is very likely the bomb letters they were sent somewhere in Spain and not from the outside.
“There are indications that indicate the origin It comes from the Spanish territory itself but you have to be careful. We are at the beginning of the investigation,” Pérez insisted.
“Calm, first of all”, asked the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who for the moment does not contemplate raising the anti-terrorism alert level.
The European Union has detected it it has no precedent of similar incidents in other countries which, like Spain, have supported Ukraine since the Russian invasion on 24 February this year.
Madrid, correspondent
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.