Nova Scotia

Police no closer to solving mystery of suspicious packages sent to political offices

The mystery deepens as to what was in suspicious packages mailed to various political offices in Nova Scotia recently, and who sent them. RCMP say they have only been able to figure out what wasn't in the packages.

RCMP say they have only been able to figure out what wasn't in packages

The mystery deepens as to what was in suspicious packages mailed to various political offices in Nova Scotia recently, and who sent them.

RCMP say they have only been able to figure out what wasn't in the packages.

In a release issued Thursday afternoon, the police said testing has determined the mysterious substance is not chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive.

But that's as far as local testing can go. The packages are now being sent to an RCMP crime lab in Edmonton for further testing.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall said he doesn't know how long that will take.

The packages were delivered to federal constituency offices in Barrington, Yarmouth and Bridgewater on Feb. 7.

Since then, packages have also been delivered to provincial constituency offices in Meteghan, Liverpool, Yarmouth, Kentville and Kingston. In two of the cases, people who handled the packages had an adverse reaction to whatever was inside.

Marshall said the packages are similar and police believe they were all sent by the same group or individual.

In addition to the mysterious substance, they also contained documents that included anti-COVID messages and references to the Nuremberg trials, where Nazis were prosecuted for war crimes committed during the Second World War.