Since 2000, 21 employees at the same company have died as a result of suspicious circumstances.
The company is ARI Armaturen, a control valve manufacturer based out of Germany, and local police have just arrested an employee who has been with the company for 38 years.
According to reports, the suspect is 56-year-old Klaus O, who was arrested in mid-May after a 26-year-old colleague noticed an odd white powder in his sandwich and reported the incident to a manager.
The company put a security camera in the break room, and caught Klaus adding an unknown ingredient to two other lunch boxes. The substance turned out to be lead acetate, which can cause severe organ damage. When police searched his home, they found cadmium, lead and mercury, all toxic chemicals.
Over the last 18 years, 21 workers have died from cancer and heart attacks, which could have stemmed from heavy metal poisoning. Right now, one employee is in a coma and another is on permanent dialysis.
Authorities are interviewing doctors and family members, but some bodies will likely be exhumed and analyzed for traces of poison. Klaus O isn't talking and the investigation is ongoing.
The situation is certainly a lot more serious than laxatives in the brownies, but is it time time that we do more than label our lunches? Do we actually have to start locking our lunchboxes?
This is IEN Now.
