An explosive parcel, sent from Italy and addressed to the Director of the Koridallos jail in Athens was defused this afternoon by Greek police technicians.

The parcel was intercepted by jail security systems and carried Italian post stamps. The sender's listed address was "Eurofor, Via Aretina 354 50136 Firenze, Italia".

According to the Greek police, the parcel was similar to others that were recently delivered to the Greek embassy and other embassies in Rome and contained a small amount of gunpowder capable of wounding the person who opened it.

The Greek antiterrorism service opened an investigation.