Australian police arrest man for sending suspicious parcels to foreign consulates

Agencies
January 10, 2019

Melbourne, Jan 10: A 48-year-old man has been arrested by Australian Police for allegedly sending dozens of suspicious packages reportedly containing asbestos to diplomatic missions here, including the Indian consulate.

Savas Avan was arrested at his home in Shepparton on Wednesday night hours after at least 10 consulates in Melbourne were forced into lockdown due to suspicious packages.

Authorities are yet to confirm what was in the parcels, but early reports suggested they appeared to contain asbestos.

The Australian federal police and Victoria police said the man was charged with sending dangerous articles to be carried by a postal service, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years jail.

He was remanded in custody following a Melbourne Magistrates' Court hearing Thursday morning, media reports said.   

A prosecutor told court the deliveries contained asbestos, and Avan did not apply for bail, media reports said.

"Police have so far recovered 29 of these packages, with forensic testing to be undertaken on them to determine the exact composition of the material in them," the federal and state police said in a joint statement.

"Police have identified all intended recipients and have put processes in place to recover the outstanding packages. There is no ongoing threat to the general public."

The Indian and the US consulates on St Kilda Road were among a number across Melbourne and Canberra targeted with suspicious packages on Wednesday, sparking an emergency "hazardous material" response and some evacuations.

It came two days after Sydney's Argentinian consulate was partially evacuated following reports of a suspicious substance.

At least two consulates in Melbourne did not contact authorities about packages until they received an email from the Australian government.

Police said that Avan sent 38 parcels containing asbestos to consulates and embassies in the three cities on January 7.

Police said there was no ongoing threat to the general public.

Avan is expected back in court on March 4.

The first suspect packages were found at three consulates and embassies in Sydney and Canberra earlier in the week,

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had sent an email to all Canberra-based diplomatic missions on Wednesday, and then to other consulates across Australia.

"After learning of incidents at three offices in Sydney and Canberra, the DFAT sent a note to all diplomatic missions in Canberra on January 8 alerting them to the possibility of suspicious packages being delivered by mail," a spokesman said.

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News Network
April 4,2020

Madrid, Apr 4: Spain recorded a second successive daily drop in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities, official figures showed Saturday.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy. A record 950 people died on Thursday.

The number of new cases also slowed at 7,026, taking the total to 124,736.

Recoveries over the last 24 hours stood at 3,706, taking that total to 34,219.

The Madrid region was the worst affected accounting for 40 percent of the deaths, 4,723, and 29 percent of the cases at 36,249. The northeastern region of Catalonia was in second place with 2,508 deaths.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to decide whether to prolong the emergency measures and confinement declared on March 14 for another two weeks in order to get on top of the outbreak.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Islamabad, Jul 3: The US embassy here in a statement on Friday said the Trump administration through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) “donated a shipment of 100 brand-new, state-of-the-art ventilators” to Pakistan.

The ventilators arrived in Karachi on July 2 and will be sent to hospitals across Pakistan.

“This donation delivers on President Donald Trump’s generous offer of these critically-needed supplies and supports Pakistan’s urgent response to the pandemic,” the embassy said.

Made in America, the ventilators are valued at about $3 million and reflect the latest in cutting-edge medical design and technology, it said.

They are compact, easily deployable, and will enable Pakistan to more effectively treat patients suffering from Covid-19.

The US-Pakistan health partnership to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus is helping to improve and expand laboratory testing, disease monitoring, case tracking, infection prevention and control and patient care, the embassy said.

The US has contributed nearly $27 million in new funding so far to this vital partnership that is growing every day. "We are also thankful for Pakistan's contribution of medical supplies to help fight coronavirus in the US," the embassy said in the statement.

Ambassador Paul Jones said, “The US stands with Pakistan in its fight against the coronavirus. These American-made ventilators will help Pakistani patients in the most acute need of medical care."

The announcement comes days after Pakistan said it had started producing locally designed ventilators.

Pakistan reported 78 more deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising virus-related fatalities to 4,551 while the total number of confirmed cases has increased to 221,896.

On Friday, the health authorities said 1,13,623 persons have recovered from the coronavirus, surpassing the number of active Covid-19 infections in the country for the first time.

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News Network
May 25,2020

Islamabad, May 25: Pakistan’s coronavirus cases on Monday reached 56,349 with 1,748 new patients while the death toll climbed to 1,167, the health ministry said.

The Ministry of National Health Services reported that 22,491 cases were diagnosed in Sindh, 20,077 in Punjab, 7,905 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,407 in Balochistan, 1,641 in Islamabad, 619 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 209 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

So far 1,167 people have died of the COVID-19 including 34 who lost their lives in the last 24 hours. A total of 17,482 patients have recovered from the deadly contagion.

The authorities have conducted 483,656 tests in the country, including 10,049 on Sunday. The trajectory showed that the number was steadily going up with authorities fearing a rise in cases in the wake of the easing of lockdown before Eid which was observed in the country on Sunday.

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