Article published on October 14th, 1984.

HEADLINE: JAPANESE POLICE SEARCH SUPERMARKET SHELVES FOR POISONED CANDY

TOKYO — The Morinaga candy company, hard hit by sales losses after extortionists poisoned its products with cyanide, laid off 450 workers Friday and cut its production in half as police pressed their search for more deadly sweets.

Police, still baffled by the case that has shocked the nation and cost two confectionery firms tens of millions of dollars in sales, expanded their appeal to the public for help in catching "The Man with 21 Faces," the name the extortionists have taken. One hundred special phone lines were added to the 22 set up Thursday to allow callers to listen to the taped voices of two of the extortionists. One was a woman's voice and the other appeared to be that of a small child.

Police said more than 8.6 million people phoned to listen to the tapes in the first 24 hours of the special number's operation. But they conceded no one identified the voices or provided clues to the identity of the mysterious "Man with 21 Faces," a name derived from a popular 1950s detective series. Morinaga, meanwhile, announced it was laying off 450 part-time workers and slashing its production of confections by half, from $410,000 to $205,000 per month. Police are still searching for seven more packages of poisoned candy the extortionists claimed to have placed in stores in and around Osaka, 300 miles southwest of Tokyo.

In typewritten letters to at least 25 supermarkets and department stores, the extortionists have also threatened to poison 100 other food products and place them in stores across the country unless all Morinaga goods are withdrawn from sale.