Man caught poisoning co-worker’s lunch prompts investigation into 21 deaths

Police were called after potential victim voiced suspicions to
bosses at the company

German police are investigating a series of deaths dating back
18 years at a metal fittings company after an employee was caught
trying to poison a colleague’s lunch.

The authorities launched the probe after finding
quicksilver, lead and cadmium at the 56-year-old suspect’s home
following the attempted poisoning at the firm in the northwestern
town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock.

The police arrested the man, who has not been named, in May,
“after one of his co-workers noticed an unknown white powder on his
food”, reports Deutsche Welle. The potential victim “alerted
his superiors and asked them to review the recordings made by
security cameras, which then showed the suspect adding the
substance to the co-worker’s lunch”, adds the Bonn-based
newspaper.

Subsequent tests “showed it was a poison that could have caused
severe organ damage”, The Daily Telegraph says.

Further investigation uncovered 21 cases, dating back to 2000,
of employees at the same company who had died of heart attacks or
cancer shortly before retiring.

Experts concluded that heavy metal poisoning could have been the
cause of the illnesses that led to those deaths.

“In the beginning, we thought it was a misconceived prank
between co-workers, and not a murder attempt,” Tilo Blechinger,
manager of the metal fittings firm, ARI Armaturen, told German news
agency DPA.

Blechinger said the suspect had worked for the company for 38
years, and described him as “conspicuously inconspicuous”.

The suspect has remained silent about the allegations and his
alleged motive remains unclear, police said.