By By Ben Alexander/The Meridian Star
May 17, 2001
Law enforcement officials have determined the "suspicious package" that caused an uproar at the downtown Meridian post office Wednesday was harmless.
The surveillance on Ninth Street began early Wednesday morning as FBI agents, U.S. Postal Inspection Service officials and officers from the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department and East Mississippi Drug Task Force waited for the package to be picked up.
The man who claimed the package was interviewed.
Early reports indicated that the package may have contained illegal drugs.
Guy Robinson, a supervisory postal inspector from Jackson, said it is not uncommon for postal inspectors to check on reports of suspicious packages but declined to describe the characteristics of a "suspicious package."
Robinson did explain that inspectors generally become interested because of a pre-existing set of circumstances associated with a package, such as its point of origin.