Article published on October 13th, 1984.

HEADLINE: POISONING OF CANDY IN JAPAN FORCES LAYOFFS

The Morinaga candy company, hit by sales losses after extortionists poisoned its products with cyanide, laid off 450 workers today and cut production in half.

As the police continued searching for poisoned candy, 100 special phone lines were added to the 22 set up Thursday to allow callers to listen to the taped voices of two people speaking for the extortionists. Spokesmen said that more than 8.6 million people phoned to listen to the tapes in the first 24 hours but that no one had provided clues.

Morinaga announced it was laying off 450 part-time workers and cutting its production by half.

Nearly 900 stores have stopped selling Morinaga candy since 12 cyanide- laced packages were found this week.