The suspect in an extortion case involving poisoned HiPP baby food will have to remain in pre-trial detention in Austria for longer, the Eisenstadt regional court said on Tuesday, citing a flight risk and other factors.
The 39-year-old was arrested in early May and then placed in pre-trial detention. The former employee of baby food maker HiPP is suspected of lacing jars with poison and placing them in supermarkets to extort his former employer, based in Pfaffenhofen in Germany's Bavaria.
The suspect's lawyer has so far rejected the allegations. The court said the 39-year-old would appeal against the extension of his detention.
However, the man is now not only under investigation on suspicion of attempted extortion and attempted grievous bodily harm but also on allegations that he submitted forged documents for a loan, judicial authorities said.
Investigations have not yet been completed, a spokeswoman for the Eisenstadt public prosecutor's office told dpa. She said investigators would now examine whether the poison in the jars matches rat poison found during a search of the suspect's home.
One of five HiPP jars found so far containing rat poison was discovered near Eisenstadt in eastern Austria. The others surfaced in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
