Anonymous threats to poison New Zealand milk powder have been sent to farmers’ groups by anti-pesticide protesters – a revelation that has been condemned as “a form of ecoterrorism” by prime minister John Key.
Packages containing dairy formula which tested positive for the pesticide sodium fluoroacetate, or 1080, were received at the national farmers’ co-operative Fonterra and the Federated Farmers headquarters in November 2014, said police.
Accompanying letters threatened to contaminate commercial supplies with the poison unless its usage ceased by the end of March 2015.
The controversial pesticide, which has been used in some form in New Zealand since the 1960s, is aerially applied throughout the country to control populations of possums, rats and stoats.
“While there is a possibility that this threat is a hoax, we must treat the threat seriously and a priority investigation is under way,” said the deputy police commissioner, Mike Clement.
He urged anyone with knowledge of the threats to come forward. “The letter writer may not have really considered the implications of their actions when this communication was drafted. Now is the time to put this right by picking up the phone and calling us,” he said.
The prime minister, John Key, said that an announcement had been scheduled next week, but that was brought forward following media inquiries.
While the police stressed they were dealing with a “criminal blackmail threat” rather than terrorism, Key disagreed.