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Interior minister expects police to break poison case

Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday said he was confident that police would soon find the person who laced energy drinks with poison as they have now posted the image of a suspect.

"Although we don't know who did it, we have several surveillance images of the suspect and we released those images to the public. That means the police will likely break the criminal case soon," Su told reporters yesterday.

One man died and at least three people were sickened after drinking Bullwild (蠻牛) energy drink that had been spiked with cyanide earlier this week. The drinks had been bought at several different convenience stores in Taichung.

Another energy drink, Paolyta B (保力達B), was also found to have been tampered with.

The maker of the drinks, Paolyta Co, immediately recalled all of the beverages.

WANTED POSTERS POSTED

Taichung police yesterday began posting the suspect's image in public places such as convenience stores and shopping malls in the hope that someone will identify him.

After studying surveillance tapes, police said the suspect is about 173cm tall and around 30 years old.

Paolyta Co initially offered an NT$1 million reward for information about the perpetrator, and yesterday increased the amount to NT$2 million.

Taichung police said they have received more than 40 phone tips, from which they have found and questioned about 30 people. They have ruled out all of them as suspects. They are still following up on several people, police added.

From video surveillance tapes, police earlier identified a suspicious man entering a number of convenience stores where the laced drinks were found.

CAREFUL PLANNING

Police said the suspect entered several stores over a two-hour time period, and wore four different outfits.

Because he switched outfits so quickly, police suspect he may have changed his clothes in a car, and may have had an accomplice to drive him. They said it was a well-planned crime.

Meanwhile, on Friday, an anonymous person sent a letter to a Chinese-language newspaper claiming to be the poisoner. The letter-writer claimed to have put poison in the energy drinks to get revenge on Paolyta for his brother, who had died from drinking too much Bullwild.

Police yesterday ruled out the letter writer as a suspect.

APPEAL

Su asked the public not to play jokes on the police.

"The poisonings have affected public security and social order, and the police need to concentrate on catching the criminal," he said.

Police are still looking for a motive for the crime. Paolyta Co said it is not involved in any disputes and has not received any blackmail threats.
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