Dynamite sent to Reagan

Press, 2 September 1981, Page 9

Dynamite sent to Reagan

NZPA Detroit Two parcels containing dynamite, one addressed to President Ronald Reagan and the other to a Detroit newspaper. were found yesterday in postal mail boxes in downtown Detroit, the Secret Service has said. Each package contained a hand-written letter wrapped around six sticks of dynamite and a blasting cap. said Jack Armstrong, assistant special agent in charge of the Detroit office of the Secret Service. The police dismantled the packages and detonated the explosives. Authorities were hesitant to label the devices as bombs, because they contained no mechanism to touch off an explosion. "They had everything but an energy package,” Mr Armstrong said. He would not disclose the contents of the unsigned letters, but said they appeared to have been written by the same person. The first package, containing the letter to the President, was found by a postal worker who became suspicious when he noticed wires protruding from it, the police said. The second parcel, containing a letter addressed to the “Detroit News,” was found in another downtown post box.