Austrian police have announced the arrest of a 39-yr-old man in connection with a case involving rat poison being placed in jars of baby food, in what the German manufacturer described as an attempted extortion.
Authorities previously confirmed that five “manipulated” jars of baby food produced by German brand HiPP were recovered last month in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia before they could be consumed, reports RTE.
A sixth jar, believed to be in Austria, has not yet been located.
“Today we succeeded in arresting a suspect, [a] 39-year-old man,” a spokesperson for police in the eastern state of Burgenland, where one of the contaminated jars was discovered, said, adding that no further details could be released as they could jeopardise the investigation, reports RTE.
Earlier today, the tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported that the suspect had been detained in the state of Salzburg, near the German border.
While HiPP has not provided detailed information about the nature of the extortion attempt, Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported shortly after the incident emerged that an email had been sent to the company in March demanding €2 million within six days, reports RTE.
However, the company reportedly did not become aware of the message until two weeks after the deadline had passed.
HiPP later explained that the email had been sent to a group address that is not regularly monitored, reports RTE.
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