Article published on October 24th, 1984.

HEADLINE: FINANCIAL AID URGED FOR BLACKMAILED FIRM

TOKYO (DPA) - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone urged financial support yesterday for the Morinaga confectionery while a 40,000 member police force, Japan's biggest dragnet since the Second World War, sought the blackmailers who are poisoning the company's chocolates and sweets.

Morinaga, headquartered here, has suffered $6 million in losses since early October, when police seized 15 boxes of chocolates and caramels laced with quantities of deadly hydrocyanic sodium.

The packages, and two new ones found Monday in the letter box of a supermarket chain, carried stickers with the message "Danger. Laced with - poison. If you eat this, you will die." The blackmailers, who are demanding the Japanese equivalent of $390,000, have threatened to send unmarked poisoned candy to other shops.