German police have closed off Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in the capital, Berlin, after intercepting a suspicious package during a daily security check.

The main entrance to the office was sealed off as ministers were carrying on with their regular meeting early Wednesday morning, witnesses said.

Police spokesman, Thorsten Peters, said officers were investigating the suspicious package, which was left outside the entrance. It included four plastic yellow postal crates.

In an earlier incident in 2010, police intercepted a package containing explosives sent from Greece to the chancellor’s office.

Europe has been on high alert after at least 130 people were killed in multiple coordinated attacks in the French capital, Paris, on November 13. The attacks were claimed by Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

Police in the German city of Munich also maintained increased presence on New Year’s Eve after receiving a tip that Daesh was planning attacks in the city.

Security measures had also been ratcheted up at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where thousands of people gathered for the New Year celebrations, with the police having banned large bags and backpacks from the site. Elsewhere across Europe, Paris and Brussels also banned pyrotechnics.