by Brianna Crandall — December 14, 2011—Over the past week, packages that contained bombs that were determined capable of exploding were sent to the chief executive of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, and to the Italian tax collection agency Equitalia in Rome. While no one was injured in the Deutsche Bank incident due to an x-ray of the mail after its interception by authorities, the letter bomb sent to Italy did explode, and wounded an agency official.
At this time, it is thought that the same Italian anarchist group is responsible for both letter bombs. In the aftermath of the incident, security has been beefed up at Deutsche Bank offices across the globe, according to ASIS International, and officials have warned banks across Europe to take extra precautions.
With these incidents in mind, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) sent out a similar warning to its members and other facilities professionals and provided them with the documents below that can be used to review an organization’s mail-related security policies and procedures:
- Guidelines for Suspicious Mail or Packages (NYPD Shield)
- Recognizing suspicious packages (New York Police Department [NYPD])
IFMA says it will keep up with all news information related to these incidents and any others that crop up, and further advise its membership as necessary.
