Taichung City police yesterday released a surveillance image of a man suspected of using cyanide to lace energy drinks that killed one man and sickened at least three others.
The affected drinks, Bullwild (蠻牛) and Paolyta B (保力達B), had apparently been tampered with at convenience stores and a drugstore.
"Police are looking for a male wearing a white shirt, baseball hat and dark glasses. He is about 170cm tall and about 30 years old," said Yen Wang-sheng (
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yen said that "police checked about 2,000 video surveillance monitors from convenience stores in Taichung, and found the suspicious man entering [a number of] convenience stores, [and in one store] putting a beverage similar in appearance to Bullwild into a refrigerator and then leaving."
Yen said the suspect had appeared on video surveillance monitors at several of the convenience stores where the laced drinks were found.
Paolyta Co told police that it was not involved in any disputes and had not received any threats. Police were therefore still looking for a motive, Yen said.
Police suspect, however, that the perpetrator might be a former employee of the beverage company or someone attached to a rival company, he said.
Police have so far found nine bottles containing the poison. The caps on the tainted bottles had been replaced and all had stickers bearing the words, "I am poisonous. Don't drink," police said.
Taichung police on Wednesday night also discovered one bottle of Paolyta B with similar labeling at a Cosmed store.
Taichung Veterans General Hospital's toxicology department director Hung Tung-jung (洪東榮) yesterday said the bottle of Paolyta B had been laced with cyanide.
A 55 year-old man named Chou Yi-kuei (周乙桂) on Tuesday drank a bottle of Bullwild and passed out. Chou died late on Wednesday at the Taichung Veterans General Hospital.
Hung said a 33-year-old woman, Chao Shih-fang (趙世芳), and a 30-year-old man, Lee Feng-ming (李峰銘), would survive, but the cyanide might result in permanent brain damage.
A 58 year-old man surnamed Ko, who was slightly poisoned, had recovered well and left hospital, Hung said.
The owner of Paolyta Co, Lu Pai-tsang (呂百倉), yesterday told reporters the company estimated it would lose NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) over the incident.
He said Bullwild -- a Vitamin B fortified product popular with laborers -- would redesign its bottle and packaging within the month even if the suspect or suspects were caught.
Lu said that all Paolyta B and Bullwild drinks had been withdrawn from shops around the country as well as from Hong Kong and would be destroyed.
Lu said this included 200,000 boxes of Bullwild and 100,000 boxes of Paolyta B.
"The losses are really hard to estimate," he said yesterday.
The two beverages account for about 90 percent of the company's annual sales of between NT$3 billion and NT$4 billion.
Since Paolyta B is categorized as a pharmaceutical beverage and new packaging requires approval from the government, the company is unsure of exactly when the product can be put back on the shelves, Lu said.
Deemed as the company's cash cow, Bullwild and Paolyta B have each enjoyed market share of nearly 50 percent in their respective categories.
Although it is unknown what impact the incident will have on consumer confidence, major retailers have adopted a cautious approach by removing all of the company's other products.
Four of the five major convenience store chains -- 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Nikomart and OK -- yesterday withdrew the Paolyta-manufactured lemon vodka Ice Fire and fruit-flavored vitamin C drinks.
Police yesterday continued to visit chemical retailers. As a permit is needed to purchase cyanide, police are investigating whether the perpetrator or perpetrators attained cyanide from these dealers.
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