Article published on October 12th, 1984.

HEADLINE: EXTORTIONISTS: "IT'LL BE LIKE A TREASURE HUNT

TOKYO (UPI) - Extortionists who laced candies with lethal doses of cyanide have threatened to poison other foods unless stores stop selling products made by the Morinaga Confectionary Co., police said Wednesday.

The latest twist in the case that has baffled police for seven months came in the form of a letter sent to the president of Osaka-based Izumiya supermarket chain, police said. "It is going to be like treasure hunting," the extortionists taunted in the letter.

Like 11 previous letters, it was signed by the "Monster with 21 Faces" - the title of a children's television show of the 1960's that has been adopted by a group trying to extort the equivalent of $410,000 from the Morinaga company.

Police so far have recovered 13 packages of Morinaga candies laced with cyanide.

The extortionists, who are believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of the president of another candy company last March, have warned that 20 cyanide-spiked packages of candy are lurking on store shelves.

All the packages recovered so far have been labeled with warnings that they contain cyanide. But in letters to news organizations, the group has threatened to put 30 unmarked packages of cyanide-laced sweets on the store shelves unless Morinaga agrees to its extortion demands.

The case first surfaced in March with the kidnapping of Katsuhisa Ezaki, president of Ezaki Glico, another major candy company. Ransom was demanded but Ezaki escaped.

The kidnappers then launched an extortion campaign against Glico, claiming they had laced its products with cyanide. No poisoned Glico products were found, but the company lost $21 million in sales.