Emergency services rushed around Bermuda yesterday responding to six suspicious packages, delivered from abroad, as anthrax fear gripped the island.

But it was unclear last night if any real threat had existed and Police said responses might be changed to avoid over-reaction.

Traffic was stopped and the western end of Reid Street beyond Burnaby Street was cordoned off when staff found a suspicious envelope, later found to contain business documents, was sent to Capital G from the United States.

The Bermuda Industrial Union called police when an envelope addressed to a staff member, with a threatening message written on it, was found in the mail delivery shortly after 1 p.m.

BIU General Secretary Molly Burgess said a cartoon on the envelope had two bees talking to each other

She said: "One was saying `please, please, don't open me' and tears were coming from its eyes. And the other said `Yes, it could be the demise of us'.

"We thought we had better be cautious. It was marked from Columbus, ME."

The New England State of Maine uses the abbreviation of ME.

She added: "They informed us to be careful so we looked at it. The staff were upset about it so we had to be cautious because we are talking about our staff, it wasn't a familiar postmark."

The Union headquarters, the Credit Union, Liberty Theatre and shops in the block were closed for the rest of the day. Next up was the Flower Shop in Reid Street which reported a suspicious letter from an unknown address. The sidewalk outside the shop was roped off.

Bermuda Perfumery Managing Director Colin Curtis said a letter had arrived from Iraq from people he does not know.

"I didn't think too much about it and put it gingerly in the garbage."

Later he reported the package because he thought it was important the authorities know about it.

He said: "Within five or ten minutes there we had people in Martian space suits, the bomb disposal team and trucks and cars."

Mr. Curtis said the letter was opened and was revealed to be an innocent request about products. He said letters did arrive from Iraq occasionally but were ignored because of the trade sanctions. He added: "The always come from Mosul, not Bagdad, I began to wonder why."

Later that day a private home in Royal Heights, Southampton, reported a suspicious letter which had come from Iraq.

And around 6.30 p.m. Police took an unexpected letter from Iraq sent to a Knapton Hill, Smith's home.

Last night Police spokesman Coleman Easton said the packages were all being examined.

He explained that testing for threatening biological and chemical substances took several hours with results likely to be released today.

Mr. Easton said: "It should be noted that all of these reports satisfied the existing criteria for responding to suspicious packages."

He said a meeting of the Chief Fire Officer Reg Rawlins, the Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith and several security chiefs had been held yesterday afternoon to assess how emergency services respond in the future.

He said: "We are making revisions to our standard operating procedures which will improve our ability to make an initial assessment of the level of response necessary."

Paragon Bermuda Ltd employee Russell Pannone was forced to evacuate his office during the Capital G scare yesterday.

He told The Royal Gazette: "I would rather people overreact than under-react and we have people die."