Police take suspect into custody for mailing multiple packages containing ricin to White House and Pentagon

Two packages containing suspicious substances were delivered to the Pentagon, and another was intercepted at the White House

Two of the four suspicious packages were intercepted before being brought into the Pentagon (Reuters)

Police and the FBI have taken a suspect in Utah into custody for mailing packages containing suspicious substances to President Donald Trump and the Pentagon, according to a police official.

The suspect was identified in Logan, Utah, where the FBI contacted local police on Wednesday morning regarding the ongoing investigation into suspicious packages, which are currently being tested to determine if they contained the deadly toxin ricin.

Envelopes containing suspicious substances were received earlier this week by the Pentagon, White House, and campaign offices for Texas Senator Tex Cruz. It was not immediately clear if the packages sent to the White House and Pentagon were related to the package sent to the Texas offices.

A Defence Department spokesman told The Independent that the Pentagon case has been referred to the FBI for investigation, and that the packages were taken by the agency for further investigation. The FBI confirmed that they had taken two suspicious packages into their possession from the Pentagon for testing, but declined to comment further on the investigation.

Two of the four suspicious packages were sent to the Pentagon on Monday, but did not make it past an outside mail processing facility. A third package was reportedly sent to the White House with President Donald Trump listed as the intended recipient — but that package was intercepted by the Secret Service.

The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A fourth package was sent to a Texas campaign, resulting in two campaign staffers being sent to the hospital. The substance in that package was later determined to not have been hazardous.

The FBI in Houston, however, indicated that the investigation into the Cruz campaign package is ongoing: “At this time, FBI investigators have obtained lab results that indicate there was no hazardous substance at [the campaign offices]. The investigation into today’s incident is ongoing,” the bureau tweeted.