Article published on November 16th, 1984.

HEADLINE: PREVIOUS ATTEMPT

The gang responsible for poisoning sweets and planting them in Japanese stores in an attempt to extort money from the Morinaga Company had previously attempted to blackmail another food firm.

Marudai Foods Co, which specializes in ham products, said on Wednesday that "The Monster with 21 Faces" gang had sent it a letter on July 3rd threatening to poison its products unless they were paid 60 million yen (US$250,000).