Police arrested a man in Hammersmith and Fulham on suspicion of contamination of goods with intention of causing public harm or anxiety after foodstuffs at supermarkets were injected with needles yesterday.
Officers were called at around 19:40hrs after a man was reported to be shouting abuse at people in the street.
The man is reported to have gone into three supermarkets in Fulham Palace Road SW6 and injected foodstuffs with a number of needles.
They are Little Waitrose, 201-207 Fulham Palace Road, SW6;
Sainsbury’s Local, 179-183 Fulham Palace Road, SW6
and Tesco Express, 168-188 Fulham Place Road, SW6.
He was been taken into police custody.
The supermarkets have closed and crime scenes are in place.
The food items affected are believed to be processed meat and microwaveable products.
It was unknown as to how many items have been contaminated, or what with.
Investigations are on-going to establish if other businesses in the area are involved in the incident.
The Local Authority Environmental Health team have been informed and are working with the supermarket branches affected.
**Members of the public are advised as a precaution to dispose of any food items bought from these supermarkets this evening**
Lawyer Charged
The man accused of injecting food with blood-filled syringes in supermarkets in west London is a solicitor, it has been revealed.
Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, was last night charged with contaminating or interfering with goods with intent at three stores – a Tesco Express, Little Waitrose and Sainsbury’s Local – in Fulham Palace Road on Wednesday evening.
Elghareeb, of Crabtree Lane, Fulham, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday afternoon, where he indicated no plea.
The defendant is alleged to have first entered the Waitrose store at 7.30pm and started ‘throwing around’ syringes filled with blood and injecting them into food items.
The court heard how he is also accused of doing the same thing in the nearby Sainsbury’s store, where he is also alleged to have thrown eggs.
It is claimed he then went on to inject more items in Tesco Express before being arrested.
The court was told Elghareeb is a solicitor and a ‘man of previous good character’.
The precise contents of the blood in the syringes are not known, the court heard.
Officers in forensic suits were seen in Fulham Palace Road on Thursday, seizing items including processed meats.
After the incident people were told to bin any food they had bought in any of the stores that night.
Elghareeb was remanded in custody and will appear at Isleworth Crown Court on September 24.
