Article published on October 9th, 1984.

HEADLINE: POISONED CANDY FOUND ON JAPANESE STORE SHELVES

By CLYDE HABERMAN

The New York Times Archives

Packs of cyanide- treated candy and cookies were found today on shelves of supermarkets in central Japan, placed there by someone identifying himself as ''the mystery man with 21 faces.''

The discovery revived a bizarre extortion plot that has both fascinated and frightened this country for months and that had generally been thought to be ended.

Police officials said tonight that investigators had removed 10 boxes of sweets from store shelves in Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya. Six packs tested thus far reportedly contained cyanide, one in a sufficient dosage to be lethal. All of them carried typewritten labels on the outside warning that the contents were tainted.

Earlier in the day, letters sent to newspapers in Osaka said that, in all, 20 such packs had been placed on store shelves scattered from Tokyo in the east to Hakata in the far west. The letter-writers threatened to distribute 30 more boxes of tainted candy - the next time with no warning attached.

Extortion Letters Sent

All the candy was produced by one of Japan's largest confectionery concerns, Morinaga & Company. Several weeks ago extortion letters were sent to Morinaga's headquarters in Tokyo warning of unspecified action unless the company paid the yen equivalent of $410,000.

The discovery today of the poisoned food seemed to make good the threat, the police said. Police authorities said they were convinced the culprits were the same people who tried to extort more than $4 million earlier this year from another candy manufacturer, Ezaki Glico.

The Glico case was almost a national preoccupation for months. It began when three men kidnapped the company president, Katsuhisa Ezaki, while he was at home taking a bath. Mr. Ezaki managed to escape, but his enemies then dealt a more serious blow by announcing that they had put cyanide- laced packs of Glico candy on supermarket shelves.

Within days, stores cleared their shelves of all Glico products. Company sales plummeted and workers were laid off. Finally, during the summer, the culprits sent letters to newspapers saying they had ''become bored with this affair'' and were heading for Europe.

No One Ever Caught

No one was ever caught and no evidence of poisoning ever emerged.

Investigators assumed that the scare tactics had been devised by people intent mainly on harming Mr. Ezaki and his company. But the Morinaga case appeared to be motivated by a desire for money, the police said. And for many Japanese the fact that tainted candy actually was distributed created a menacing new dimension in a country where random violence is rare.

In an apparent attempt to ease widespread anxiety, stores began this evening to remove all Morinaga products from their shelves.

Investigators assumed that the same people were involved in the two extortion cases from the typewriter that was used and from the taunting tone in all the letters. Moreover, one of the poisoned candy packs was found at a supermarket only 35 yards from Mr. Ezaki's home in Nishinomiya, west of Osaka. 'Special Seasoning' Added

The notes received today were addressed to ''all mothers in the country,'' warning what might await their children if they bought candy.

''Morinaga is the best when it comes to confectionery,'' the letters said. However, they continued, the candies ''now taste a bit bitter since we have added a special seasoning of sodium cyanide.''

The notes were signed ''Kaijin 21- Menso,'' which can mean ''the mystery man with 21 faces'' or ''the monster with 21 faces.'' It seemed to be a reference to ''Kaijin 20-Menso,'' a series of mystery books and television dramas for children that were popular 30 years ago.