Police in the Austrian federal state of Burgenland arrested a 39-year-old man on Saturday morning as a suspect in the case of extortion and poisoning of HiPP brand infant formula. TASR informs about this according to the reports of the APA and DPA agencies.
- A 39-year-old man was arrested in Burgenland on suspicion of blackmailing the HiPP company.
- In April in Burgenland, they seized a jar of baby formula containing poison.
- The police identified a total of five jars of poisoned HiPP infant formula.
- The threatening email demanded money and the manufacturer confirmed that he faced blackmail.
- They measured fifteen micrograms of an unspecified poison in a contaminated glass in Austria.
In April, in Burgenland, bordering Slovakia, they seized a cup of HiPP baby formula with carrot and potato flavor, which contained rat poison. According to the police, a total of five jars of poisoned baby formula were discovered. They were also found in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The investigation began after a threatening email addressed to HiPP was published. In it, the extortionist demanded money, allegedly already at the end of March. The baby food manufacturer himself later confirmed that he had become a victim of blackmail.
The Austrian prosecutor’s office said at the end of April that she discovered 15 micrograms of unspecified rat poison in the contaminated cup. However, she emphasized that this amount was discovered in a cup found in Austria and may differ from those in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
