Threatened to poison water and food in supermarkets, arrested

He threatened to poison mineral waters and food products in supermarkets, with injections of cyanide, thallium sulfate and rat poison, if he did not obtain the payment of a ransom, required in cryptocurrencies. And to do so, he hid behind anonymous emails, sent through foreign providers, going so far as to publish demonstration videos on the methods of poisoning, to appear even more persuasive in blackmailing food companies, victims of extortion. He is a 47-year-old Italian citizen, residing in the province of Trieste, affected by a precautionary custody order in prison, issued by the judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Rome. The criminal facts ascertained starting from August 2021 and up to May 2022 against the companies that were victims of extortion were carried out through blackmail carried out with communications via e-mail, which exploited advanced anonymization systems; the alleged extortionist requested the payment in cryptocurrency of large sums of money, threatening the poisoning and marketing of the products distributed by the companies contacted, by contamination with cyanide, thallium sulphate, rat poison; the threat also provided for the subsequent disclosure, through the press, of the poisoning of the products, with potential very significant social alarm, damage to the image and economic for companies and above all causing a very serious danger to the health of consumers. strength and credibility in the extortion purpose, in the blackmail communications direct reference was made to poisoning and insertion of products in the distribution already put in place. The Postal Police of Rome in fact found in possession of the suspect also several video files that documented the alleged poisoning of the products and their subsequent repackaging, pending possible inclusion in the distribution chain to the public. “However, it should be noted that the investigations revealed that these actions were not carried out and it does not appear that the poisoning of food and water products has ever occurred, also thanks to the timely investigations carried out”, explains a note from the Police. of state. There are over 200 extortion attempts against Italian and foreign companies (in Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Switzerland), victims of the same criminal modus operandi.