- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
editor of a supermarket tabloid group whose employees were exposed to anthrax
said on Friday he believed a letter laced with the bacteria was possibly
sent to the newspapers' building and one of the Sept. 11 hijackers might
have been involved.
-
- "If you just look at the incredible coincidences,
you cannot arrive at any other conclusion in my mind other than that this
is a bioterrorist attack," said Steve Coz, editorial director of American
Media Inc., which is based in Boca Raton, Florida.
-
- Three employees at the company -- which publishes the
gossipy, sensational weekly tabloids the Enquirer, Globe and the Sun --
were exposed to anthrax. One of them, 63-year-old photo editor Robert Stevens,
died last Friday.
-
- American Media's 300 employees and several hundred other
people were still awaiting the results of tests to determine if they were
also exposed to anthrax.
-
- Coz told ABC's "Good Morning America" he believed
Stevens might have contracted the disease after handling a letter contaminated
with anthrax spores, which he possibly inhaled even without opening the
letter.
-
- One of the other people exposed to anthrax was the mail
man who is recovering in a local hospital.
-
- "Unfortunately for Bob Stevens he was handed the
letter and Bob Stevens is far-sighted. He then brought the letter up to
his eyes so he could see it and the theory is, that is when he got the
inhalation of anthrax," said Coz.
-
- Two other employees came into direct contact with the
letter but neither had tested positive for exposure to anthrax, he said.
-
- Coz declined to comment on the contents of the letter,
saying the FBI had asked him not to release details. All he would say was
that it contained material that was of interest both to Stevens and two
of his co-workers.
-
- He also noted that Mohamed Atta, one of the suspected
hijackers who rammed a plane into the World Trade Center towers on Sept.
11, had lived within a few miles of the AMI building and had been within
a mile of Stevens' house.
-
- In addition, Coz said the FBI was going to pharmacies
in the area to see if Atta had sought an antibiotic used to treat anthrax,
which can be fatal if not treated promptly.
-
- "We know he (Atta) showed up at a pharmacy with
red hands. There are people in this area who have vague recollections of
seeing him," said Coz, without giving further details.
-
- The Miami Herald reported this week that two of the alleged
hijackers had subscriptions to AMI tabloids.
-
- "You have to assume that he (Atta) went into stores
all around this area and saw American Media magazines. We are a symbol
of the American culture," said Coz.
-
- The hijackers rammed planes into the World Trade Center
buildings in New York and a wing of the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed
in Pennsylvania. Nearly 5,400 people were killed in the attacks.a public
address system announcement said.
-
- Two days ago a suspicous white power was found in another
envelope addressed to the department. Tests showed it did not contain anthrax.
|
