Indonesia police probing French embassy threat

Two French embassy staff in the Indonesian capital were put in isolation in hospital after coming into contact with a suspicious package, police said Tuesday.

But intelligence chief Lieutenant General Marciano Norman later said no harmful material was found in the envelope, which had been labelled "îANTRAC" and was suspected of possibly containing anthrax.

"It has been confirmed that it's not anthrax. It was just a threat," Marciano said. "It was just the writing, but we will investigate it further."

Neither police or the embassy were immediately reachable for an update on whether the two French nationals had now been released.

Earlier, the French embassy confirmed a suspicious package was received.

"Yesterday (Monday) we received a suspicious package and called the police to deal with it," spokesman Dominique Roubert told AFP, without giving further details.

Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium which has been used as a biological weapon by terrorists.

A homemade bomb exploded outside the Indonesian embassy in Paris in March, causing damage but no injuries.

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