London: At least three mosques and the Bank of England in the UK have received suspect packages containing white powder and racially abusive language, prompting British police to investigate a possible hate-mail campaign against Muslims and government institutions.
They (British Police) fear a possible far-right link to a hate-mail campaign against Muslims and government institutions, the Sunday Times reported.
Suspect packages containing white powder were posted to at least six recipients, including Pakistani-origin Muslim peer Lord Ahmed in his House of Lords office, three mosques in London and the Bank of England.
Some of the packages, which are thought to have been sent from the Sheffield area in northern England, contained racially abusive language.
The investigation is being led by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit which is understood to have been called in after suspicious packages were found at a sorting office in Sheffield on Tuesday.
"The North East Counter Terrorism Unit is co-ordinating an investigation into a number of suspicious packages reported at locations in London and South Yorkshire," a police spokesperson said.
Tests showed that the white powder was harmless but it initially raised fears of a chemical or biological attack. Police took them away for inspection but at least six letters containing white powder arrived at addresses in London on Thursday, the 11th anniversary of the July 7 terror attacks in 2005.
A police source told the newspaper a "political" motive was being considered.
Three of the letters were sent to mosques and two more letters were sent to the Bank of England whose governor, Mark Carney, had warned against Brexit during the referendum campaign and to the offices of a government mail screening service in Canning Town, east London.
The campaign follows a 42 per cent rise in hate crimes recorded in England and Wales around the time of the European Union referendum, compared with the same period last year.
