P'nP: Police working flat-out

2003-07-02 10:31

Johannesburg - Police are working flat-out to catch the person threatening supermarket giant Pick 'n Pay to get money from it, says superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

He said: "We don't have a profile (of the criminal). We are working on that."

A task team had been appointed and was analysing all the information coming in, some of it phoned in to CrimeStop.

On Tuesday, police and Pick 'n Pay jointly revealed that the poison used by the extortionist was cyanide.

A blood test showed that the woman who ate a sardine from a tin bought in a West Rand Pick 'n Pay branch and allegedly doctored by an extortionist, had been poisoned with cyanide.

Blood taken from the woman was found to contain above-normal levels of cyanide.

She had eaten a "strange-tasting" sardine from a tin she later saw was clearly marked in handwriting as poisoned.

Experts said the level was not enough to harm her or result in any side effects.

Cyanide was also used in a tin of pilchards. The extortionist told Pick 'n Pay the exact location of the tin in a Boksburg branch.

First time threatened like this

The same poison was used - in far higher levels - in three threatened products sent in a parcel to Pick 'n Pay in May .

The products are the 120g can of No Name Brand Portuguese sardines with the barcode 600 1007 007 263, Pick 'n Pay Choice garlic flakes bottle (barcode 600 1007 096 441), and the 155g can of Lucky Star pilchards in chilli (barcode 501 082 1132 007).

The May parcel was Pick 'n Pay's first brush with the extortionist, and its first contact with this type of intimidator in its 36 years in the South African market.

Initially, because the extortionist said customers would be poisoned if Pick 'n Pay told the public of his demands, the company kept silent.

However, when the woman ate the poisoned sardine on Friday, the company went public.

Since then, there has been no contact with the extortionist.

Dlamini said police did not yet have a profile on the criminal. They were hoping for further information on the cyanide's origin.

"If we can identify the origin of the cyanide, if we can find out where it came from... we will be closer."

Meanwhile, the task team is working on the letters of demand, the June phone call regarding the tin of pilchards in the Boksburg store, and incoming information.

- SAPA