The 2005 Indonesian embassy bioterrorism hoax occured when Indonesian ambassador to Australia Imron Cotan received a suspect letter addressed to himself at the Indonesian Embassy in Australia on June 1, 2005. The suspect letter later turned out to be harmless. For other uses, see Ambassador (disambiguation). ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ...

The letter was opened by his personal assistant and contained white bacterial powder and a racial message [1] ( http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15481770%255E2702,00.html). Prime Minister John Howard made an apology to Indonesia after the incident, describing the incident as "a reckless act of indifference to human life". This article is about race as an intraspecies classification. ... John Howard John Winston Howard (born July 26, 1939), is an Australian politician and the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, coming to office on March 11, 1996 and winning re-election in 1998, 2001 and 2004. ...

"Insofar as possible retaliatory action is concerned in Indonesia, there is always a danger of that," the Prime Minister said. "Just as we cannot guarantee that a random act of stupidity with an evil intent from among our 20 million people will not occur, equally I cannot expect a guarantee from the Indonesian Government that some evil act of retaliation will not occur in that country."

The identity of the powder and whether it posed any health risk was initially unclear; initial testing of the powder detected traces of a "biological agent", but it was later found to be nontoxic. Approximately 50 staff members were quarantined for 12 hours. Many have speculated the hoax attack is related to the recent sentencing of Schapelle Corby to 20 years imprisonment in Indonesia for drug trafficking. The incident is the first of its type on Australian soil. The embassy remained closed for several days following the incident. A biological agent is an infectious disease that can be used in bioterrorism or biological warfare. ... Schapelle Leigh Corby (born July 10, 1977) is a former beauty student from Australia convicted by an Indonesian court of attempting to smuggle 4. ...

Other Indonesian Diplomatic missions around Australia have reported receiving threatening emails and letters since the trial of Schapelle Corby began. A bullet was sent in an envelope to the Indonesia consulate in Perth. Unrelated to the Corby arrest and trial, in September 2004 the Australian embassy in Jakarta was attacked by a car bomb. A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ... Schapelle Leigh Corby (born July 10, 1977) is a former beauty student from Australia convicted by an Indonesian court of attempting to smuggle 4. ... Perth is the name of several towns and cities: Perth, Scotland is the original Perth, after which the others are named, and the administrative town of the region of Perth and Kinross in Scotland. ... Map of Indonesia showing Jakarta Jakarta (also Djakarta or DKI Jakarta) is the capital and the largest city of Indonesia, located on the northwest coast of the island of Java, at 6°11′ S 106°50′ E. It has an area of 650 km² and a population of 8. ... The bomb left a crater in the road three metres deep The Jakarta embassy bombing took place on September 9, 2004 in Jakarta, Indonesia. ...

On June 3, 2005 a section of Parliament House was sealed off when the discovery of a suspicious package delivered to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was discovered in the car park. The suspect package was taken away for analysis and no evacuations occured. The anlysis has since shown the contents to be harmless but forensic tests are continuing to establish if there are any links between this package and the earlier one sent to the Indonesian embassy. [2] (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1384068.htm) June 3 is the 154th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (155th in leap years), with 211 days remaining. ... Parliament House Canberra: The main entrance and the flag Parliament House is the name given to two purpose-built buildings in Canberra, the capital of Australia, where the Parliament of Australia has met since 1927. ... Hon Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born September 9, 1951), Australian politician, became Foreign Minister of Australia in March 1996. ...

Various news reports, including those from SBS have reported that the enclosed letter was written in Indonesian, with a high degree of competence. However, this has been contradicted in other reports, see links below. See: Special Broadcasting Service - Australian government-funded Radio and TV network Said Business School - Oxford Universitys business school. ...

See also

• Bioterrorism

Bioterrorism is terrorism using germ warfare, an intentional human release of a naturally_occurring or human_modified toxin or biological agent. ...

Sources

• Death delivered in a poison letter (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15482171-2,00.html)
• Embassy parcel 'was no threat' (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15485268-2,00.html)
• Letter did not name Schapelle (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15494507-31317,00.html)
• Embassies secured amid payback fear (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15492962-31317,00.html)
• Embassy returned to normal after scare (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15502244%255E2702,00.html)