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Powder Found At U.N. Apparently Flour

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Dec 15, 2006 6:54 pm US/Eastern

Powder Found At U.N. Apparently Flour

NEW YORK (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: "A suspicious package was found and it is being analyzed," U.N. associate spokesman Yves Sorokobi said. (File).

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A suspicious package leaking white powder was found near CNN's office at U.N. headquarters Friday, prompting officials to cordon off the area, but tests later showed the substance was harmless, officials said.

New York City police Det. Kevin Czartoryski said late Friday that tests on the substance had been completed "and it was nontoxic." Earlier, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said it appeared to be flour.

Nonetheless, 20 people who came in contact with the substance were decontaminated by New York City police experts as a precaution, Czartoryski said. They had to wash their hands, face, hair and other exposed areas, seal their clothes in a bag and wear a special decontaminated suit to go home.

Security officials also closed off the surrounding area and a corridor off the main lobby near a security office where the package was taken for tests.

Hazardous material officials in yellow suits could be seen along the corridor with large orange plastic bags. The Associated Press office was initially closed off, but U.N. security guards later allowed reporters to leave.

The package was found on the fourth floor of the building near the media area Friday afternoon, Haq said. He said U.N. security guards immediately informed the New York City Police Department and the Department of Environmental Protection, who dispatched teams to examine and test the package along with U.N. security experts, he said.

Haq said it wasn't clear whether the package was in CNN's mailbox, in a mailbag on the floor nearby, or elsewhere in the corridor. It was addressed to a news organization, which was not identified.