Unemployed man accused of extortion campaign against supermarkets

A man operating under the alias Mietek Piroman was yesterday arrested by police from Zory in Silesia on charges of extortion. In one case, 27-year-old unemployed man Krzysztof F. is accused of sending a blackmail note to the Minimal hypermarket, threatening to inject salmonella bacteria and the HIV virus into refrigerated meat and to put razor blades in jars of puree, unless he was given the codes of 50 mobile phone cards. In almost 100 similar attacks, he targeted the Geant hypermarket and the Rybnik power plant, as well as banks, businessmen and even the Health Ministry, threatening to plant bombs and start fires. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 17) A.Z.