Man Arrested Over Poisoned Baby Food Extortion Case

Police in the Austrian state of Burgenland have arrested a 39-year-old man suspected of extortion and poisoning HiPP baby food, dpa reported.

In April, a jar of HiPP carrot and potato baby food containing rat poison was seized in Burgenland, Austria’s easternmost state. Police said five poisoned jars were found in total, including in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The investigation was launched after a threatening email addressed to HiPP was published. In it, the blackmailer demanded money, allegedly as early as the end of March. The baby food manufacturer later confirmed that it had been targeted in an extortion attempt.

At the end of April, Austrian prosecutors said 15 micrograms of an unspecified rat poison had been found in the contaminated jar. They stressed that the figure applied only to the Austrian jar and may not match the levels found in the Czech and Slovak cases.

(dpa, tasr)