Letter Bomb in Germany Puts US Banks on 'High Alert'
The CEO of a top German bank received a letter bomb on Wednesday causing the New York City Police Department to alert banks in America’s financial capital to beware of potential hazards coming from the mail.
The letter was addressed to 63-year-old Josef Ackermann, chief of Deutsche Bank and symbol of capitalism in the Western European country.
Deutsche Bank confirmed reports that it received a “suspicious package” and said that police have successfully deactivated the bomb and taken over the investigation.
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It is unclear who sent the explosive devise to Ackermann.
The letter arrived around 1 p.m. local time and was detected following a routine X-ray screening in the mailroom of the bank at its Frankfort headquarters.
No one was injured from the fully functioning bomb that carried a return address from the European Central Bank, also located in Frankfurt.
The bomb scare has put New York financial institutions on high alert.
NYPD officials are warning all New York banks to take precautions and vamp up security.
Deutsche Bank locations around the city will see heightened security and the intelligence community is working in conjunction with law enforcement to make sure that banks and financial institutions in the city take necessary precautions.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne advised the private security managers from the Shield group, which has 10,000 members, to be “extra careful” of suspicious packages from the mail.
The police department also dispatched patrols to bank offices around the city on Wednesday “solely as a precaution.”
“The FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force is working with German authorities to assess the incident in Frankfurt and any potential threat to facilities or people here,” said spokesman James Margolin of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York.
"There is no specific threat to New York associated with the incident at this time," Margolin added.
