Court extends detention of suspect in Hipp baby food case

The Eisenstadt Regional Court has extended the pre-trial detention of a suspect in the attempted extortion case involving German baby food producer Hipp until November 2, ORF reported on Monday. The detention was extended because of an alleged risk of flight and further offences.

There is still a strong suspicion that the man committed extortion, grievous bodily harm and document forgery, the court said. The 39-year-old former Hipp employee was arrested in Salzburg province on May 2.

He is alleged to have tampered with two Hipp jars each in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia using rat poison. A second jar, reportedly sold at a Spar supermarket in Eisenstadt, has not been found.

The jar secured in Burgenland contained 15 micrograms of rat poison. An expert report found that the dose would not have been life-threatening if consumed, but could have caused health problems. Rat poison found at the suspect’s home was comparable in concentration and ratio to the substance in the jar, according to prosecutors, but this does not prove that it was the same poison.

The Slovak-born suspect denies involvement in the alleged offences. He admits only to document forgery involving fake payslips used to obtain a loan.