NEW YORK: The US Secret Service said Wednesday it had intercepted suspect packages, identified as potential explosive devices, sent to the homes of former president Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
The Secret Service said it recovered a single package addressed to Clinton in Westchester, a suburb north of Manhattan on Tuesday, and a second package addressed to the Obama residence in Washington on Wednesday.
“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
“The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
The explosive device was found in mail sent to the Clintons, the New York Times reported.
The paper while quoting an official said the device was similar to the one found at the home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros on Monday.
FBI’s New York office says it is investigating suspicious package found near Clinton’s residence.
The agency was on Tuesday investigating the explosive device found in the mailbox at the New York home of US billionaire and liberal donor George Soros, a target of right-wing groups, officials confirmed.
An employee of the residence in Bedford, north of Manhattan, found the suspicious package in the mailbox on Monday afternoon, opened it and found what appeared to be an explosive device, Bedford police said.
“The employee placed the package in a wooded area and called the Bedford police,” the local police department said in a statement.
Soros was not at home at the time and bomb squad technicians defused the device, said police in Bedford, a wealthy enclave that is home to a string of the rich and famous within easy commute of Manhattan.
An “extensive investigation” has been opened and the case has been turned over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force Division of the FBI, police said.
“We are conducting an investigation at and around a residence in Bedford,” the FBI´s New York field office said on Twitter. “There is no threat to public safety, and we have no further comment at this time.”
Born to a Jewish family in Hungary, the 88-year-old hedge fund tycoon has an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion, making him one of the world´s richest men, according to Forbes magazine.
In 1992, the Wall Street trader became known as “the man who broke the bank of England” when his aggressive speculation against sterling sent it crashing out of the European exchange mechanism.
He has given away billions to his Open Society Foundations, which promote freedom of expression, justice and equality, and which counter discrimination, focusing in part on Central and Eastern Europe.