A white powder in a letter that hospitalised an aide to Belgiumβs prime minister, Alexander De Croo, has been identified as strychnine, a poison that can be fatal.
The Brussels prosecutorβs office revealed on Wednesday the nature of the substance that was sent last November to government buildings, including the office of De Croo.
Belgian media reported that an unnamed member of De Crooβs office had received hospital treatment after injuries to their hands after opening the letter.
It is reported to have been discovered on 22 November, two days after similar packages were found at the office of the interior minister, Annelies Verlinden, and the headquarters of the state security service. Another person was put into quarantine as a precaution, but not hurt, after these discoveries.
Strychnine, an odourless white powder, is used as a rat poison and in humans can lead to muscle spasms, cardiac arrest, organ failure and death. The dramatic convulsions it can induce in higher doses has inspired crime novelists and writers, such as HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
News of the strychnine-laced letter emerged two days after a man armed with a knife was arrested outside De Crooβs office in Brussels. Police said his motivations were not immediately clear.