Simon Hunter
INVESTIGATORS in Spain believe that a series of letterbombs sent to embassies and the prime minister last week may have come from Valladolid province.
So far, no suspects have been identified in the ongoing probe into the incidents, and police have not clarified any possible motive for the crimes.
According to police sources cited in Spanish media, the letters were homemade and contained gunpowder that was designed to go up in flame rather than cause an explosion, and also contained tiny metal balls to act as a kind of shrapnel.
Other sources described the letters as containing ‘fireworks’ but made clear that they could still do damage.
So far the only victim of the letters was a member of staff in the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, who suffered minor injuries to his hand on opening one of the devices.
Among the other targets who were sent the letters was Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles, the US embassy in Madrid, the Satellite Centre at the Madrid airbase in Torrejón de Ardoz, and the director of a weapons manufacturer called Instalaza.
None of the letters contained any kind of note or threat, according to sources close to the investigation.
Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has sent a letter to other EU countries in which he suggested that the letters may have been sent ‘in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine’.
Read more:
- New letter bombs discovered in Spain at arms factory in Zaragoza and Madrid area air force base
- Letter bomb explodes at Ukraine Embassy in Spain’s Madrid
