Merkel's Office Cordoned Off Due to Suspicious Package

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office was sealed off due to a suspicious package, Reuters reported Wednesday citing a police spokesman.

"We are investigating a suspicious package," a spokesman for the Federal Police in Berlin told Reuters.

The agency also cited an eyewitness as saying that there were allegedly 4 plastic yellow postal crates in the area.

"An unidentified object was found around 8:30 a.m. [07:30 GMT] during patroling rounds. Since the Office of the Chancellor is of particular importance, [police] started to immediately inspect the suspicious object. Currently all entrances are blocked with specialists working on the site," the spokesman said.

"The police are still dealing with the situation," he added. According to the spokesman, the building will be closed untill police are able to define the level of threat.

A RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the scene that there are several cardboard boxes lying in the snow just outside the cordoned off area. Presumably, they contain correspondance. Earlier, a German TV station N24 said that the suspicious object was in fact a mail message, a letter or a box, which was delivered to the Office of the Chancellor checkpoint on Wednesday morning.

It is not yet known if Angela Merkel was in the building at the time of the discovery.

No further details were provided. The German government has not commented on the situation so far.

In the morning, the Office of the Chancellor is to hold this year's first Cabinet of Ministers meeting.