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New Zealand police arrest man who threatened to poison baby formula Baby formula poison threat had financial motive, New Zealand court hears
(about 4 hours later)
A 60-year-old New Zealand businessman has been arrested over threats to contaminate infant formula with a pest control poison, agent 1080. A businessman’s threat to poison infant formula with the pesticide 1080 if the poison was not banned was motivated by financial gain, the charge sheet states.
The Auckland man has been charged with two counts of blackmail, the New Zealand police commissioner, Mike Bush, said.. The man, 60, was arrested on Tuesday following an 11-month investigation into anonymous letters sent to dairy co-operative Fonterra and Federated Farmers in November 2014.
“This investigation is one of the biggest undertaken by police in recent times and reflects how seriously we view this kind of crime,” Bush said as quoted by TVNZ. “It has involved a 35-strong investigation team, plus specialist support staff.”
Related: New Zealand prime minister says poison threat to milk powder ‘ecoterrorism’Related: New Zealand prime minister says poison threat to milk powder ‘ecoterrorism’
The arrest comes after police executed five search warrants in Auckland and the Rangitikei district on Tuesday morning. The letters, sent with small packages of milk powder laced with a concentrated form of 1080, threatened to contaminate infant and other formula with the poison unless New Zealand stopped using 1080 for pest control by the end of March. No contaminated infant formula was ever identified.
The accused will appear in Manukau district court on Tuesday afternoon and if convicted faces up to 14 years in jail. The man appeared in Manukau district court on Tuesday, where he and the companies he was associated with were granted name suppression until April 2016.
Anonymous letters were sent to Fonterra and Federated Farmers in November last year along with small packages of milk powder laced with a concentrated form of pest control agent 1080. Five search warrants executed by police in Auckland and the Rangitikei district on Tuesday led to the man’s arrest and brought the investigation to a close, police commissioner Mike Bush said.
They contained threats to contaminate infant and other formula with the poison unless New Zealand stopped using 1080 for pest control by the end of March. Police said the man was working alone and there was no threat to the public.
The year-long investigation cost more than $3m with more than 50,000 tests failing to reveal any contamination. The arrest prompted an outpouring of relief from political and industry leaders. The prime Minister, John Key, said the threat had worried his government immensely. “We always thought it was a hoax but because of the remote risk of it being carried out, it was very worrying,” he said.
The two victims of the blackmail threat, Fonterra and Federated Farmers, welcomed the arrest and eagerly await the outcome of the impending court case.
The accused businessman did not enter a plea to two charges of criminal blackmail and was released on bail until his next appearance on 28 October.