Health commissioner’s house searched in anthrax hunt

FBI agents hunting the source of the anthrax letters that have killed four people have searched two houses, including one owned by a city health commissioner .

The agents, backed by a hazardous materials team, seized several items, which FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi refused to identify.

The FBI would not say why the houses in Chester, Pennsylvania, - 50 miles from where anthrax letters had been posted - were searched yesterday, and federal court documents used to obtain search warrants were sealed.

Agents entered a house owned by Dr Irshad Shaikh, who has been the city health commissioner since 1994. He and his brother, Masood Shaikh, who works in Chester’s lead abatement programme and lives with Shaikh, were interviewed by the FBI.

’’They were here, they asked some questions, they left. I fully cooperated from this side, and they left,’’ Shaikh said. He declined to say what the FBI had asked.

’’There’s nothing to be found,’’ Masood Shaikh said.

Shaikh, 39, is a faculty associate at the John Hopkins University school of public health, where he has taught part time since last year, Hopkins spokesman Dennis O’Shea said.

Shaikh, who earned master’s and doctorate degrees in international health at Hopkins, had no access to labs where biological agents were present, university officials said.

’’Not only is he not in labs, our labs do not have anthrax,’’ O’Shea said.

A statement from the city of Chester said Shaikh held degrees in community medicine from his native Pakistan.

The second house searched by the FBI is occupied by Asif Kazi, an accountant for the city who is also a native of Pakistan, according to Mayor Dominic. Pileggi.

Vizi said the searches had been conducted without incident, and nobody had been arrested. Decontamination tents were set up in the area, but Vizi would not say why they were needed.

’’We are very concerned about the safety of people who make entry into any facility. I’m not going to be specific as to what we’re looking for,’’ she said.

She said there was ‘‘no public safety issue’’ and that neighbours were safe.

Chester is about 15 miles from Philadelphia and 50 miles from Trenton, New Jersey, from where anthrax letters were posted.