A sheep farmer from Lincolnshire has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for extorting Bitcoin worth £1.4m from the Tesco supermarket chain, according to the Daily Mail.
The 45-year-old Nigel Wright, between May 2018 and February 2020, placed counterfeit jars of Heinz and Cow&Gate infant formula on supermarket shelves, stuffed with metal fragments, including shards from a craft knife.
Wright demanded £1.4m in Bitcoin from the retailer, claiming that it underpaid farmers for milk. He offered to disclose the location of the planted jars in exchange for payment.
Two women testified, nearly feeding their children meals containing metal fragments. One said she heated half the contents of a Heinz jar in a microwave, removing the remainder to the fridge.
“I gave my son a couple of spoons and noticed something shiny. I pulled it out with my fingers at that moment. It was awful. I felt sick; I was so shocked,” she said.
The witness added that her husband found a piece of knife blade at the bottom of the jar.
As a result of Wright’s threats, Tesco had to withdraw a total of 140,000 jars of infant formula from its stores, 42,000 of which were destroyed after the incidents. The retailer faced £2.7m in losses, including compensation and investigation costs.
Wright was arrested after a detective posing as a Tesco employee transferred £100,000 to him in cryptocurrency. The officer, who initially identified himself as Sam Scott, sent 1 BTC to Wright, and then the rest.
The publication noted that this extortion investigation was the largest in the United Kingdom, involving more than 100 police officers. At one stage, more than 30 officers monitored store CCTV footage around the clock.
As reported in August, the attacker demanded 1.99 BTC from the government of Saratov Oblast, threatening an explosion.
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