Letter laced with 'the PLAGUE' is sent to French minister

A letter intended for a top French minister contained traces of the plague, according to reports.

The suspicious letter was addressed to the town hall of Roubaix, in the north of France outside Lille, for the attention of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

It was unstamped and had undisclosed 'inscriptions' on its back, rousing suspicions among workers at a sorting centre in Longiv, in the Côte-d'Or region.

When they opened it they discovered that it was filled with a black powder and a letter containing racist insults, French media reports. 

Preliminary tests revealed the powder contained a 'slight positivity for the plague' - the disease that killed millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages.

The substance has been sent to the Pasteur Institute, which is conducting new analyses to confirm the results. 

The Côte-d'Or prefecture stressed that the result 'could be a false positive.' 

The Pasteur Institute is expected to report its conclusions at the end of the day on Monday.

It remains unclear who is behind the offensive letter and prosecutors have launched an investigation.

The investigation has been opened for 'defamation and insults', but that may change depending on test results.

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and is most commonly transmitted to humans by flea bites or handling infected animals.

There are around 1,000–3,000 cases per year around the world, with the most endemic countries being the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Peru, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Police are yet to name a suspect or possible motive and Darmanin has not spoken publicly about the reports. 

The Interior Minister spoke on France 2 TV this morning about recent attacks on rail infrastructure just hours before the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

Darmanin said was 'leaning towards the likelihood' that far-left extremists were behind the arson attacks.

'We have identified the profiles of several people,' said Darmanin, before adding: 'This is the traditional type of action of the ultra left.'

But when asked whether the people that had been identified were close to the far left, Darmanin said: 'We must be cautious.'

He said 'the question is to know whether they were manipulated' or acted 'for their own benefit'.

'These are people who may be close to this movement,' the interior minister added.