Asia-Pacific
RUSSIA
Postal Terrorism
Russian authorities are concerned about explosives that are being sent through the domestic mails, according to a report in the liberal Izvestia. Vyacheslav Kuzmin writes that since 1992, two Russians have been killed-and seven seriously injured-by exploding parcels.
The problem, explains Kuzmin, is that while postal workers carefully inspect every piece of mail going out of the country, the government cannot afford to equip local post offices with the X-ray equipment needed to check domestic mail.
Experts say anyone could easily send chemical weapons or radioactive devices through the mail, writes Kuzmin. He says Russian postal authorities are leaning toward the only affordable solution to make the mails safe: passing a law that would require all parcels to be packed at the post office-"in front of a vigilant inspector."
