The 1997 Case of Arnott’s Poison Extortion Threat
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Arnott’s is the country’s largest producer of biscuits, responsible for introducing to us some of the most iconic bikkies such as the melt-in-your-mouth Scotch Fingers, the decadent Shortbread Creams, and our all-time favourite Tim Tams.
In fact, did you know that Aussies devour over 537 million packs of Arnott’s biscuits each year? That’s a lot of bikkies!
But are you aware that before they became the well-loved company that they are in Australia today, they used to suffer from an extortion bid from someone who allegedly threatened to poison packets of Arnott's Monte Carlo biscuits, causing the company to lose millions in revenue?
This issue was admittedly a dark time for the people at Arnott’s, but thankfully, they emerged gracefully and were even praised for their openness and honesty in dealing with the crisis.
Arnott’s products were removed from supermarket shelves in 1997. Credit: Peter Morris.
In 1997, a national alert was issued after an unnamed extortionist forced Australia’s biggest biscuit maker, Arnott’s, to withdraw thousands of their products from supermarket shelves across the country.
The suspect, alleged to be a man already wanted over a double murder, sent “warning” packets to six company addresses in Sydney and Brisbane, demanding that a Queensland prisoner be released from jail and that the four NSW police officers take a lie detector test about evidence that convicted Ronald Henry Thomas, who was jailed in 1991 for the murders of Peter Wade and Maureen Ambrose.
And if they don’t follow his bidding, the suspect will plant hundreds of packets of poisoned biscuits on supermarket shelves across Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
The culprit even added that the attack will not be a “one-off event”, and will continue unless the matter at hand is resolved.
Arnott’s then began a massive recall of many of its products. To remedy the company’s image, they also launched a public campaign, which included publishing the suspect’s demands in full-page advertisements.
Chris Roberts, Arnott’s managing director at the time, said that the company’s decision to recall their products cost them millions of dollars.
“It is regrettable that we have been enmeshed in the mechanism of this extortion threat. We can see absolutely no link,” Mr Roberts said, expressing that Arnott’s was an innocent victim of a dispute they had no connections with.
If the culprit’s supermarket terrorism had prevailed, hundreds of consumers would have fallen ill from the poisoned biscuits, which were revealed to contain enough pesticide to be lethal to small children and make adults extremely ill.
Laboratory reports have found that the pesticide was mixed with a vegetable dye in the cream of Monte Carlo biscuits. If consumed, the poison could cause headaches, fatigue, and giddiness.
Using leftover DNA evidence found on a stamp, police investigators claimed to have traced the extortion threat to Joy Ellen Thomas, the 67-year-old mum of the Queensland prisoner.
But in 2002, charges against the alleged suspect were dropped in the Brisbane District Court just as she was about to stand trial after a forensic biologist went back on his previous assertion linking the DNA result to Ms Thomas.
The Department of Public Prosecutions had dismissed the charges five years after the alleged extortion bid.
On a more pleasant note, check out this video of Arnott’s biscuits being made in the 1950s.
Credit: ABC News (Australia)
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