Man arrested over package bombs sent to US military bases

A man has been arrested for allegedly sending package bombs to United States military sites and a CIA mail office in the Washington, DC, the FBI said yesterday.

The suspect, Tranh Cong Phan, 43, was arrested on Monday at his home in Everett, Washington State, by federal agents and sheriff’s deputies, the FBI said.

He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Seattle yesterday afternoon.

Suspicious packages were received on Monday at mail processing sites at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is a Navy-Air Force facility in the District of Columbia; and Fort Lesley J McNair in the US capital, the agency said.

The packages also turned up at mail facilities at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre in Dahlgren, Virginia, and the CIA in Langley, Virginia.

“It is possible that further packages were mailed to additional mail processing facilities in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area,” the FBI said. The packages were being analysed at the FBI laboratory at Quantico, Virginia.

FBI spokeswoman Nicole Schwab said none of the packages detonated. Officials at Fort McNair evacuated a building after one package was delivered, a spokesman said. An army bomb squad confirmed that it tested positive for explosive residue and determined a fuse was attached, he said.

In a separate incident at a military base this month, a man died after driving a minivan through the gate of Travis Air Force Base in California and igniting propane tanks and petrol cans.

Several package bombs left on doorsteps and some sent from a Federal Express office were detonated in Austin, Texas, this month, killing two people and injuring others. The suspected bomber Mark Conditt blew himself up as police closed in on him.