The discovery of an undetermined amount of white powder in the West Wing of the White House, last Sunday evening, triggered a security alert and led the authorities to order the evacuation and closure of the work area of ??the presidential residence. . The alarm lasted a few hours: until the Hazardous Materials section of the Washington D.C. fire department. determined that the substance found did not represent a threat: it was cocaine.
The tricky discovery occurred when members of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service were making one of their routine rounds of the building.
As first reported by The Washington Post, a firefighter from that team radioed the results of the corresponding test at 8:49 p.m.: “We have a yellow bar that says cocaine hydrochloride,” he reported.
Secret Service spokesman at the time, Anthony Guglielmi, said the substance would still undergo further testing to confirm whether it was cocaine or whether the powder contained more substances. The police were also preparing to investigate how it got to the White House.
Guglielmi initially refused to specify where in the presidential complex the powders had appeared. But later the Service pointed to the West Wing, an area attached to the president’s central and residential building and which includes the oval office, the cabinet room and the press area, and the offices of the president’s advisers and staff: an area where hundreds of people pass daily.
Joe Biden was not in the building at the time of the discovery, which was not heard from until Tuesday.
