Poison scare sparked in Sweden

2003-12-24 18:48

Stockholm - A group calling itself the "Animals' Liberation Front" says it has poisoned meat in nine Stockholm supermarkets as part of a protest over meat-eating ahead of Christmas, the TT news agency said on Wednesday.

While no poisoned meat had so far been found in any of the city's stores, and that they wished to avoid panic, police said they were taking the threat seriously.

The agency said the claim had been made in an anonymous letter left at its offices on Tuesday, along with a package of lamb.

TT said it had also received an anonymous telephone call claiming the action. "We will not undertake any action that could physically injure people. But economically, we will injure them greatly," the caller said.

Police said they were having the meat left with the letter analysed, although the results were not yet known. A police spokesperson admitted that given the approaching holiday, they were having difficulty find laboratories to carry out analyses.

TT said the people organising the campaign did not appear to be a structured group, but rather several animal rights activists working loosely together.

A similar threat was issued in November against a supermarket in the city of Uppsala, to the north of Stockholm, but no poisoned meat was found on that occasion.

- AFP