A GANG of five has been arrested and jailed for poisoning food to extort money from restaurant owners, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Saturday.

One gang member would falsely get a job at a target restaurant and deliberately put the industrial chemical sodium nitrite into the salt. His accomplices would then go to the restaurant for a meal and claim to be suffering from food poisoning in order to extort money from the restaurant’s owner, Longgang District People’s Court heard.

On June 17, 2018, a gang member surnamed Liu, having been employed at a restaurant, put the prepared sodium nitrite into the kitchen’s salt box and informed his two accomplices, surnamed Chen and Pu, to get a meal at the eatery at 4 p.m.

Chen and Pu said they were not feeling well after eating the food. The restaurant owner subsequently took them to a hospital but no problems were found. They threatened to publicize the incident and demanded 10,000 yuan (US$1,479) in compensation.

Following negotiation, they received 6,000 yuan. Liu quit his job soon afterwards, and the three split the illegal gains.

The three pulled off the same trick again at another restaurant June 19. They demanded 38,000 yuan but only received 2,000 yuan. Liu quit his job like before, and Chen and Pu each got 1,000 yuan.

On July 22, Liu was employed at a Hunan cuisine restaurant. He put the sodium nitrite into the kitchen’s salt box and notified Chen, Pu and two other men to have dinner at the eatery at 6 p.m.

However, a nearby company ordered takeout from the restaurant at around 5 p.m. The chef cooked the dishes using the tainted salt and packed the food for delivery. Liu, who was on site, didn’t stop the chef.

Thirty-seven employees at the company developed such symptoms as dizziness, diarrhea and vomiting after eating the food. They were confirmed to have suffered from acute nitrite poisoning.

Liu’s accomplices came to the restaurant as planned and claimed to be sick after eating the food. The restaurant owner immediately took them to a hospital, where they found out that Liu had gotten into trouble this time. They fled the hospital but were all captured afterwards.

The five defendants — with the youngest being only 19 years old and the oldest in his 20s — were sentenced to a fixed term of imprisonment ranging from two years and four months to four years. They also had to pay more than 74,000 yuan to the restaurant owner for his economic losses. (Zhang Yu)