German police seek suspected food poisoning blackmailer

BERLIN – German police say they’re seeking one or more people who threatened to poison food sold by German companies unless they’re paid millions of euros (dollars).

Officials in Konstanz, on Germany’s southern border, said Thursday the blackmailer or blackmailers alerted them Sept. 16 that five jars of baby food at shops in nearby Friedrichshafen had been manipulated. Officials located the jars, which were found to contain ethylene glycol, a sweet-tasting liquid, but said there’s no evidence anyone was poisoned.

They said an email was sent to authorities and companies threatening to poison unspecified food at branches of German retailers inside the country and beyond if they’re not paid more than 10 million euros ($11.8 million) by Saturday. Officials didn’t specify which retailers were targeted.