‘You’ve Been Anthraxed.’ Ontario man faces hoax terrorism charges after letters to government

A St. Catharines, Ont. man faces hoax terrorism and uttering threats charges after RCMP advise workers at a government set of job in Ottawa opened a letter that mentioned “You’ve Been Anthraxed.”

Joseph Knipfel, 63, used to be arrested on Would possibly maybe honest 6, following an investigation by the RCMP’s Constructed-in National Security Enforcement Team. 

RCMP Sgt. Lucie Lapointe mentioned Friday that “We are able to verify that the about a of the charges that Joseph Knipfel is dealing with are linked to the incident that took set at 131 Queen Avenue in Ottawa on April 29, 2021.”

Police advise they seized digital gadgets, paperwork and copies of other letters alleged to comprise anthrax all over a search of his house.

The RCMP also intercepted the same letters it says had been mailed to each domestic and foreign officers.

“Furthermore, the investigation uncovered evidence of links to a string of the same
 letters, believed to have been authored by the accused, despatched to Government of Canada officers advantage in
 2020, claiming that these letters had been contaminated with the coronavirus,” learn a media open from the RCMP.

Knipfel is charged with seven counts of hoax terrorist exercise and 18 counts of uttering threats.

Police advise they started investigating after suspicious letters had been despatched to federal and provincial government offices.

The letter obtained in Ottawa with the message about anthrax — a fundamental and most frequently deadly disease — used to be addressed to a Canadian reliable and opened on April 29, according to the RCMP.

A crew that makes a speciality of chemical, organic, radiological, nuclear and explosives incidents linked to suspected terrorist actions used to be segment of the police response.

The RCMP says field assessments and prognosis confirmed the envelope and its contents did no longer comprise a unsafe substance.

Knipfel is scheduled to seem in courtroom in St. Catharines on July 8. Police are continuing to examine.