Parcel Containing 'White Powder' Found Near Jacinda Ardern's Office, Sparks Security Scare

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office was full of the Defence Force’s explosive ordnance disposal team and emergency services on Monday morning after a suspicious package with white powder in it was found.

It reached the eighth floor of the Beehive, a spokesman for Ardern confirmed. It is where her mail is received and many of her team members work. It is just a floor below the offices of the Prime Minister.

After 10.30 am, a fire service command unit truck, three fire trucks, and a hazardous material truck reached the Parliament’s Museum Street entrance.

Hours later, a police spokeswoman shared that the powder turned out to be a mineral substance that “was no risk to anyone involved," reported Stuff.co.nz. The spokeswoman shared that it is being tested further, but said that it is not hazardous. "It was a small amount, estimated at weighing about 5 grams (0.011 pound)." Details about how the item was sent was not shared. The area where the package was found has been isolated as a precaution.

Trevor Mallard, speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, said that the suspicious envelope did not have a possible explosive.

Just days before this, Christchurch airport in New Zealand was cleared after a suspicious item believed to be a bomb was discovered during screening of a bag, according to Daily Mail. As the airport was evacuated Thursday morning, police were immediately called to the domestic terminal.

Cops spoke to two people about the explosive, but arrests are yet to be made. While sniffer dogs patrolled the airport, the country's Defence Force's bomb team was called in to investigate the object. The threat was dismissed by police though they did not reveal what the item was.

Before the bomb scare, Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, who was considered one of the most dangerous extremists in the country, went on a stabbing rampage in a supermarket in Auckland. He stabbed five people and injured two others during the attack after which he was shot dead. Ardern said that since 2016, he had been watched around the clock, and was "gutted."