A Brussels mosque was evacuated Thursday after officials discovered an envelope containing a suspicious powder.
The Brussels Fire Brigade and Emergency Medical Services reported shutting down the Grand Mosque shortly after noon, after a person who takes care of the mail opened an envelope and white powder spilled out, CNN reported.
The powder was not anthrax, as feared. Emergency responders determined it was flour, and that the envelope was a hoax, CNN said.
TRENDING: Jihad against Christians is due to … climate change?
But for a tense time, the scene was chaos. At least four ambulances rushed to the mosque and authorities quickly shuttered the seven people who were in the mail room at the time of the envelope's opening into a decontamination area for attention.
Investigators shortly after discovered nine other envelopes containing the same flour, said Christian De Coninck, a spokesman for the Brussels police department.
The hoax comes on the heels of a November 13 terror attack in Paris that left 130 dead. Police in Belgium, meanwhile, have been on high alert for days, conducting several raids in a neighborhood known for ties to terror, Molenbeek. One of the suspected Paris attackers is believed to have fled to Brussels and hidden. Investigators have reportedly traced his cell phone to the region.
Â