Saturday, June 13, 2009

FBI swarms NY auction house in anthrax false alarm

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - FBI agents created a stir in Schenectady when they swarmed an auction house wearing hazardous materials suits, reportedly to check out a suspicion that there might be anthrax in the trash at the building.

But the episode Friday turned out to be a false alarm.

New York Surplus Auction owner Les Paine says investigators came to his business as part of an investigation into the discovery at a different location of a vial purportedly containing a holistic anthrax vaccine.

Investigators spent the day rifling through garbage outside the business.

Schenectady County Director of Emergency Management Thomas Constantine says preliminary tests came back negative for any dangerous biological agents.

Information from: The Daily Gazette,