Nine Japanese companies blackmailed through letters containing cyanide and money demands – Threaten of producing fake medicine

Nine Japanese companies, including drugmakers, have received blackmail letters containing a mysterious white powder. Police say perpetrators have warned they’ll produce fake medicine if demands aren’t met.

Several Japanese companies, including a newspaper publisher and several pharmaceutical firms, have been sent extortion letters which contained suspected cyanide and demanded money, police said on Sunday.

Suspicious envelopes arrived at the seven drugmakers and the Tokyo headquarters of The Mainichi Newspapers on Friday. The Hokkaido branch of a famous Japanese food company as also targeted.

The letters were sent under the names of executed members of the Aum Shinrikyo — the Japanese doomsday cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, as well as local gangsters.

via DW