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'Letter bomb' sent to German president just days after Obama was sent ricin
- Authorities destroy letter addressed to German president Joachim Gauck
- Fears that envelope may have contained explosives
- Comes after President Barack Obama sent poisoned letter
By Sam Adams
PUBLISHED:11:27 EST, 19 April 2013| UPDATED:11:29 EST, 19 April 2013
German authorities today destroyed a letter addressed to the country's president that was suspected of containing explosives.
A spokesman for President Joachim Gauck's office said the envelope was found during routine checks on mail late this morning.
The incident comes days after US president Barack Obama was sent a letter containing deadly ricin.
Fears: Experts destroyed a suspected letter bomb sent to the office of German president Joachim Gauck in Berlin this morning
Experts decided to carry out a controlled detonation of the letter in the park outside the president's Bellevue palace in downtown Berlin after suspicions were raised about its contents.
Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, which was responsible for the operation, confirmed a letter suspected of containing explosives had been destroyed.
It said it was still investigating whether it actually contained a bomb.
A spokesman for the president said there was no danger to Mr Gauck, Germany's largely ceremonial head of state, who was not on the premises at the time.
It was not immediately clear where the letter came from.
In 2010 a mail bomb was intercepted at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office - part of a spate of parcel bombings for which a Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility.
Attack: It comes just days after US president Barack Obama was sent a letter containing deadly ricin
Targeted: The incident comes three years after a mail bomb was sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (seen here with President Gauck)
Kevin Curtis, 45, an Elvis impersonator from Corinth, Mississippi, has been charged with trying to poison President Obama.
Curtis is suspected of sending letters containing ricin to the president and to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker.
He had previously sent letters to Sen. Wicker and officials from his office alerted authorities about the frequency of his correspondence when the suspicious letter was found.
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