A series of incidents involving ‘suspicious packages’ being sent to SNP officials are not linked, police have said.
Officers were forced to cordon off an area of Dunfermline town centre earlier today after an item was sent to the constituency office of MP Douglas Chapman.
The building and surrounding premises were evacuated as a precaution and a cordon has been put in place to assure the safety of the public while investigations are carried out.
It follows an incident last week where a letter with an alleged anthrax threat was sent to council offices in Forfar.
The letter writer claimed it contained spores of the disease, and included the message “Get SNP out. Tories in”.
Meanwhile, two further incidents were revealed last week whereby packages were sent to an MSP and a party HQ respectively, although police declined to comment on whether these were targeted at the SNP.
In late March, the party’s depute leader Angus Robertson was the subject of a further incident when a package containing white powder and a note were sent to a pub in Keith.
The bizarre note reportedly read: “Please please support your MP SNP Angus Robertson and our sister vocal and financial supporter Gina Miller to stay in the EU as we have many more of our brothers and sisters wanting to join our brothers and sister in Glasgow with your help and our sympathetic the leader N Sturgeon and you we can be a Muslim state in the next 30 years.
“So please keep the door open via the EU. May Allah be with you all.”
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland confirmed today that officers are not currently investigating any link between the occurrences.
She confirmed they are being treated as “separate incidents” and currently the force have “no information to suggest they are linked”.
The spokeswoman added: “All of these are now being looked at by local police divisions and further updates will be issued in due course.”
The announcement comes after officers were forced to issue advice for elected officials and potential candidates on how to handle suspicious packages and substances.
The message, which was issued to all such officials in Scotland, reads: “Following a number of recent ‘white powder’ incidents within Scotland where elected officials have received suspicious packages through the mail containing powder, this opportunity is taken to remind you of some basic guidance and advice which should be adhered to in such circumstances.”
The communication also included a PDF entitled ‘Mail Handling – White Powder’.
The advice warns officials to consider the appearance of the package along with any suspicious marks and to contact 999 immediately if they have concerns.
A spokesman for the SNP said: “We do not comment on security issues.”
