Austrian police have detained a 39-year-old man suspected of adding rat poison to jars of baby food. According to investigators, he attempted to extort money from the manufacturer by threatening product safety.
A suspect who added rat poison to jars of baby food has been detained in Austria. This was reported by the local police. According to preliminary data, the man committed the crime to extort money from the manufacturer — the company Hipp.
"Today we managed to arrest the suspect, a 39-year-old citizen," said the police of the eastern state of Burgenland, where one of the poisoned jars was found.
On May 2, the Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung reported that the suspect was arrested in the federal state of Salzburg, bordering Germany.
It is believed that the man committed the crime to obtain a ransom from the manufacturer. The company Hipp itself did not disclose the details of the demand. However, the newspaper Die Presse reported that in March, unknown individuals sent an email to the company with an ultimatum: to pay 2 million euros within six days. The firm only learned about the email two weeks after the deadline set by the perpetrator.
Last month, five jars of Hipp baby food with signs of tampering were discovered in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Fortunately, the contents of none of them were consumed. A sixth jar, presumably located in Austria, has still not been found.
The incident, which affected several countries in Europe, has resulted in no injuries, but one jar remains missing. The case has heightened attention to food safety issues, and the extortion motive indicates serious risks for producers and consumers, writes bb.lv.
