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Cosmetics firm pulls face cleaner

Kao Co (花王公司) yesterday withdrew a face-cleaning product from store shelves after a blackmailer threatened to inject the item with poison.

"Kao Co decided not to appease the blackmailer and has withdrawn the product," Kao Co said in a press statement.

"The company on Friday morning received threatening calls, and immediately reported the matter to police," the statement said.

Kao is a leading manufacturer of skin cleansers and cosmetic products in Taiwan. The product in question is Biore cleansing gel.

Taipei County police said the company was sent a photograph on Friday morning through the Internet, which showed a syringe inserted into a popular face cleanser produced by the company.

The blackmailer made several phone calls to the company that morning, demanding an NT$1 million (US$32,200) payment in exchange for the products not being poisoned, police added.

Police said the blackmailer claimed that he had not put any poisoned product in shops.

Police said that while the company immediately reported the matter to police, it also attempted to negotiate with the blackmailer.

According to police, the company told the blackmailer that it would only be able to pay NT$100,000, which the perpetrator initially agreed to. But because the company then said it should report the matter to the company's headquarters in Tokyo before making the payment, the blackmailer said the company was trying to fool him and rejected the deal.

The blackmailer then told the company he would call again today, and turned his phone off.

Police said the company had not received any threatening phone calls on Saturday or yesterday.

Police added that according to a recording the company made, the blackmailer spoke in Taiwanese, and they believed he was aged between 20 and 30.

Police said they did not know whether the blackmailer had any accomplices.

Kao Co on Saturday decided to publicize the incident to maintain its reputation and to avoid appeasing the blackmailer.

The company said the withdrawal of the product, priced at NT$150 and with monthly sales of 7000 to 10,000 bottles, would cost it NT$1.5 million in losses.

The company plans to design new packaging for the product, but said it has not decided when it will re-introduce it to the market.
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