OTTAWA — A stunned Conservative receptionist opened a blood-soaked box Tuesday containing a human foot that had been delivered to the party’s headquarters a few scant blocks from Parliament Hill.
The macabre discovery led to a pre-noon call to police and paramedics about a suspicious package. The first officers to arrive on the scene spotted blood splattered on the package and immediately called in the hazardous-material unit. When the specialists opened the package, police found the severed appendage inside.
“Upon arrival, officers noted that the (box) package possibly had blood stains on it,” Ottawa police said in a statement.
“The Hazmat Unit and Emergency Operations Section were called and upon further inspection of the package it was determined that there was possibly a human foot in the box.”
Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.
The horror was not confined to Ottawa. Ottawa police were consulting with their counterparts in Montreal after they discovered a severed torso in a suitcase. Montreal police sifted through a heap of garbage in the city’s west end to see if they might turn up any missing limbs.