I also bet that the envelope was steamed open and reused.
Good bet. According to this story, the spores were introduced inside the normal envelope and were stuck to, or jammed up against ("adosadas," the use of the word not clear to me) the inside wrapping of the envelope. They theorize the sender knew the receipients would be in a lab that knew how to handle such things, and his purpose was to scare people, not cause them harm. The head of the Chilean post office said the sender may have used their services, though there is no way for him to trace that. I assume that means the letter may have been received there, and as you suggest, intercepted and tampered with.
About someone holding a grudge, I agree, that is a likely case, and if so it would perhaps be a colleague, someone working with infectious diseases, that had access and could work with the stuff, and had previous problems with the law...
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