Vietnam arrests milk poisoner after media blackout

Tue, 19 Jan 2010

Hanoi - Vietnamese police arrested a man Monday suspected of blackmailing the country's largest dairy company by threatening to poison its milk. Police arrested Luong Van Thai, 25, on Monday in Ho Chi Minh City as he was withdrawing money from his bank account, where the state-owned company Vinamilk had transferred part of the demanded ransom.

Vietnamese police had told the company not to speak to the media for two weeks while they hunted a blackmailer who had injected weed killer into milk cartons, the company said Tuesday.

Bui Thi Huong, Vinamilk's director of external relations, said the blackmailer had used a syringe to contaminate the contents of two milk cartons which he then mailed to the company.

He threatened to poison the company's milk sold in stores if Vinamilk did not send him 100 million dong (5,500 dollars).

Vinamilk immediately reported the threat to police who advised a media blackout "because if we informed the media, the blackmailer would escape," Huong said.

Asked why Vinamilk had not recalled milk from stores or informed consumers of any potential risk, Huong said the decision had been made by security forces.

Vinamilk transferred 35 million dong to Thai's account on Sunday, one day before police picked him up when he was using an ATM.

It was not known why Thai had used his personal bank account rather than demanding a less easily traceable form of payment.

Blackmail threats involving poisoned food or drink often lead companies to recall their products to protect consumers. But in such cases the blackmailers typically claim to have contaminated products already available on store shelves.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304555,vietnam-arrests-milk-poisoner-after-media-blackout.html.