The Greek Postal Service (EL.TA) said it has ordered an “in-depth investigation” over possible oversights by a contracting company tasked with screening mail and parcels flown out of the Athens airport.
A hastily issued announcement by state-run EL.TA on Thursday came after a parcel bomb mailed from Greece, and transported via the airport, arrived at the German finance ministry and was subsequently intercepted during a screening there.
The security lapse generated heightened criticism of the postal service, which in turn indirectly placed the blame on the contractor.
In a reaction, EL.TA said it has purchased and uses a state-of-the-art, European certified and German-made x-ray and detection system – dubbed an “Explosives Trays Detector” — to screen mail and parcels at the Athens International Airport (AIA). EL.TA also claimed that the equipment was renewed in January 2017, while saying that all regulations and protocols were followed when selecting the security contractor.
The fact that an urban terror group in Greece was able to airmail an explosive mixture, hidden in a hollowed-out book, and with German FinMin Wolfgang Schaeuble as the intended recipient, is a major embarrassment for the postal service. The incident was compounded by the fact that no one along the shipping chain noticed Schaeuble’s name or the fact that the alleged sender was well-known conservative lawmaker Adonis Georgiadis.
