VIENNA – Law enforcement officials in Austria announced Saturday the capture of a 39-year-old individual linked to a disturbing extortion scheme involving contaminated infant food products.
Authorities successfully recovered five tampered jars of HiPP-brand baby food last month across Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia before any could reach consumers. The products had been laced with rat poison as part of what the German manufacturer described as an extortion attempt. One additional contaminated jar believed to be somewhere in Austria remains missing.
A police representative from Burgenland, the eastern Austrian state where one tainted jar was discovered, confirmed the arrest. The spokesperson stated: “Today we succeeded in arresting a suspect, 39-year-old man,” but refused to share additional information that might compromise the ongoing investigation.
According to the Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung, authorities apprehended the suspect in Salzburg, a state that shares a border with Germany.
Details about the extortion demands emerged through Austrian media reports. Die Presse newspaper revealed that HiPP received an electronic message in March demanding 2 million euros (approximately $2.3 million) within six days. However, the company failed to notice the threatening communication until two weeks beyond the specified deadline.
Company representatives later explained that the threatening message had been delivered to a group email address that receives infrequent monitoring.
