by Jolene Toves

Guam - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken over an investigation into a suspicious letter discovered at the Guam Visitors Bureau's office in Tumon. Just before 9 this morning GVB general manager Karl Pangelinan says a member of his staff opened a letter that was handwritten and dually addressed to the Guam Visitors Bureau and the mayor's office.

Pangelinan told KUAM News, "It was just natural for our staff to go ahead and open it and when they opened it, it wasn't until later when they fully pulled out the contents that people started to get the right people involved and started our own emergency procedures here." Pangelinan says when his staff opened the letter they discovered a white powdery substance inside.

Immediately, proper authorities were called and his office was evacuated. A total of three of his staffers came in contact with the letter and were quarantined. The Guam Fire Department took control of the scene. GFD spokesperson Lieutenant Ed Artero says GFD's Hazardous Materials Team was activated to conduct testing along with the Guam National Guard's Civilian Support Team to help identify the suspicious material.

For several hours GVB staff were evacuated from their office, it was until just before one o'clock this afternoon they were cleared to return to work and GFD made the announcement that the FBI had taken over the investigation. "It's a suspicious package, and I'm assuming anything that deals that kind of nature dealing with possibly the mail system would have to be turned over to them," said Artero.

Meanwhile Pangelinan says the white powdery substance came up negative for anthrax or anything else that could be harmful. As for who sent the letter, that's remains under investigation, Pangelinan does say however the envelope indicated an off-island address.