Corby link suspected in embassy biological threat

CANBERRA - Emailed death threats, bullets in the mail, and now a biological agent posted to the ambassador.

Even at the height of the East Timor tensions, the backlash against the Indonesian embassy was not this ugly.

But the 20-year jail term handed to Gold Coast beauty student Schapelle Corby for smuggling drugs into Bali has scratched an anti-Indonesian itch among sections of the Australian public.

Before last week's verdict, staff at the Canberra embassy had received death threats by e-mail.

At the consulate in Perth, a death threat arrived in the post -- along with live bullets.

And after her sentencing, the embassy's phones ran hot with abusive calls.

Now, staff at the embassy face up to two long days in isolation while a suspicious powder which spilled out of a package addressed to Ambassador Imron Cotan is tested.

It has already tested positive as a biological agent -- a term which is only used to describe potentially harmful substances.

It could be anything from a fungi like athlete's foot to a bacteria such as anthrax, or a virus like yellow fever or small pox.

Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out a benign substance, saying his advice is that the term is only used to define harmful substances.

The United States air force survival manual defines biological agents as "viruses and microorganisms, or their products, which are used to cause disease, injury, or death to people, animals, or plants".

Mr Cotan last month said the embassy had received several e-mails on the Corby case, some containing death threats.

He would not give specific details of the threats, based on advice from the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

"We are getting quite a number of unaddressed, so to speak, e-mails, not only expressing their concern about the health, the condition, the legal proceedings on Corby but as well threats," Mr Cotan said.

"So not only (are some people) expressing their concerns but as well some of them have gone further than that, threatening us."

At the time, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer described the threats as aggressive, completely inappropriate and utterly counterproductive.

"If they're going to start threatening the Indonesian embassy and Indonesian diplomats, they're doing absolutely nothing to help Schapelle Corby," Mr Downer said.

"If people think (that) by running this kind of aggressive public campaign vilifying the Indonesian embassy somehow that is going to make the judge ... automatically acquit Schapelle Corby, all I can say is that they're making a very big mistake."

Security was tightened at the Indonesian consulate in Perth last month after staff received live bullets and a letter warning that they would be killed unless Corby was released.

"If Schapelle Corby is not released immediately you will all receive one of these bullets through the brain. All Indonesians out now -- go home you animals," the letter reportedly said.

Mr Howard said today that death threats and criminal acts were reprehensible reactions to Corby's jailing.

"I understand the depth of feeling in the community and providing that is expressed in the traditional Australian way there's nothing wrong with that," he said.

"Every country has its uglies. Every country has people who behave in a very unfortunate and antisocial way and we have fewer than most.
"But this is a deeply distressing incident. It is quite appalling and I condemn it unreservedly."

- AAP