Cocaine find sparks White House evacuation

The US Secret Service is investigating aft cocaine was recovered astatine the White House connected Sunday night.

The find successful the West Wing, which contains the Oval Office and different moving areas for statesmanlike aides and staff, led to a little evacuation.

Secret Service agents recovered the suspicious pulverization successful an country that is accessible to circuit groups portion doing a regular inspection.

President Joe Biden and his household were astatine Camp David successful Maryland astatine the time.

A elder instrumentality enforcement authoritative told the BBC's US spouse CBS News the substance was recovered successful a retention installation routinely utilized by White House unit and guests to store mobile phones.

The White House analyzable was closed arsenic a precaution astir 20:45 section clip (00:45 GMT) connected Sunday aft it was discovered.

A preliminary test, which was archetypal reported by the Washington Post, aboriginal confirmed it was cocaine.

The Secret Service volition pb a afloat reappraisal of however the substance got into the White House, officials told CBS. They said cameras and entranceway logs would beryllium examined to find who had entree to the country wherever it was found.

Cocaine is simply a Schedule II cause nether the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has a precocious imaginable for abuse, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The West Wing is simply a large, multi-level portion of the White House that contains the offices of the president of the United States, including the Oval Office and the Situation Room.

It besides houses the offices of the vice-president, the White House main of staff, the property secretary, and hundreds of different unit who person access.