As cocaine was discovered at the White House on Sunday night, the US Secret Service is looking for evidences in visitor records and video footages.
The authorities immediately evacuated the West Wing after the discovery was made in the area, which include Oval Office and other workspaces for presidential advisers and personnel.
The Secret Service personnel discovered the substance in question during a regular examination of an area open to tour groups.
During the incident, President Joe Biden and his family were staying at Camp David in Maryland.
The drug was discovered in a storage facility that White House personnel and visitors frequently use to store their mobile phones, a senior law enforcement official told the BBC’s American partner CBS News.
Due to the incident, the White House compound was shut down as a precautionary measure at around 4:45 am (MUT) on Sunday.
Later, a preliminary examination revealed that the drug was cocaine.
According to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the Secret Service will oversee a thorough investigation into how the breach of security occurred.
However, some areas of the West Wing are open for tour by friends and family of the White House staff. Also, Mobile phones and other personal items of those who are not authorized workers should be deposited in cubicles.
According to a source involved with the investigation, “it was in one of the cubbies.”
Jean-Pierre informed that the location of the cocaine discovery is a “heavily travelled” area of the White House, at a daily press briefing on Wednesday. She said, “We have confidence that the Secret Service are going to get to the bottom of this.”
Jean-Pierre also stated that President Biden had been updated on the situation. However, he declined to respond to inquiries from reporters regarding the event on Wednesday.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Secret Service director asking how such a substance could find its way into one of the most heavily guarded structures in the world.
He inquired about the security measures and guest screening procedures at the White House as well as the frequency of drug seizures there.
According to the US narcotic Enforcement Administration, cocaine is classified as a Schedule II narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act, which indicates that it has a significant potential for abuse.
The Oval Office and the Situation Room are located in the West Wing, a sizable, multi-level area of the White House that houses the president of the United States’ offices.
Along with hundreds of other employees who have access, it also houses the offices of the vice president, the White House chief of staff, the press secretary, and others.
