Danish Water Supply Poisoned With Strychnine

From Jyllands-Posten:


On Tuesday afternoon, a control inspection revealed that Greve Municipality's water source had been contaminated by strychnine Remains of strychnine found in the pumps of a Greve water reservoir could have meant a grand scale catastrophe, had a control check Tuesday not discovered the poison.

One or more unknown persons dumped rat poison into the reservoir at Greve Waterworks by shattering a Plexiglas cover on one of the well's openings. Nearly 35,000 citizens are supplied drinking water from the source.

'The episode worries me, because you think, what'll it be next?' said Greve Waterworks' Erik Jurlander to daily newspaper Politiken.

Jurlander said that the facility is as secure as it can feasibly be.

'We have coded locks for the waterworks, a sea of alarms and 24-hour security guards who are immediately notified if one of the alarms sounds.'

Police have not yet confirmed any suspects, though they do have an important clue in the form of a small chemist's vial marked 'rat poison' found at the bottom of the well. Police said they know from which pharmacy the vial comes, but are gathering more information.

Greve Waterworks personnel said that the amount of poison found in the water was not significant enough to have caused problems. The reservoir has been closed, however, and the municipality is currently being supplied by water from Copenhagen.