Suspect said he did it as a prank while stressed.

It is sometimes said in Japan that if you ever find a drink just sitting in the bottom of a vending machine without anyone around, do not pick it up because it might have been injected with poison. Even though it sounds like an urban legend along the lines of razors in Halloween apples, incidents of drinks injected with poison actually have occurred in the past.

It’s also important to check the caps of bottled drinks and make sure those little plastic teeth are still sealed before attempting to drink them. If you don’t hear that little cracking sound when first opening it, you’re better off staying away from it.

And as a cautionary tale for this, we have the arrest of a 26-year-old man from Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture. He faces a charge of obstruction of business by fraudulent means, hopefully with more charges to follow, because anyone who would do what he did deserves to have the book thrown at them.

On 24 May at about 11:50 a.m., the suspect entered a convenience store in Chiba City and placed a plastic bottle of tea into their refrigerated drink section among the other teas. However, rather than tea, this bottle was filled with his own urine.

▼ It’s frightening because there are so many different kinds of bottled teas in Japan, it’s possible to match the urine of people with a wide range of dietary and health conditions.

At about 8:00 a.m. on 26 May, a customer purchased the bottle and took it home. That evening, when they tried to drink it, they noticed a peculiar odor. It was reported to the store and police, who launched an investigation. As a result, the store management had to inspect their entire stock of drinks, thus the obstruction of business.

Upon apprehending the suspect, he admitted to the crime and said he did it as a prank to blow off steam because he was “going through some things at work at the time” and “feeling frazzled.” At the risk of being presumptuous, considering his unique sense of humor and ways to unwind, I’m going to assume his work problems were largely his own doing.

It’s a particularly heinous act that seems like it deserves more than a simple obstruction of business charge. Just reading about the news online seems to have had a traumatic effect on some people, according to comments.

“That is too scary.”
“The bottle must have been at or in the mouth by the time they noticed the smell…”
“Ugh, that would traumatize me.”
“That’s not funny at all. If he’d do that, what would stop him putting something more harmful there?”
“I think I could tell by the color.”
“Good thing [the] person [who purchased the bottle] didn’t have a stuffy nose at the time.”
“I’m opposed to the death penalty, but this guy should get the death penalty.”

I think it’s safe to say we all go through things at work sometimes, and it can leave us quite frazzled to say the least. However, we can’t let it distract us from checking bottled drinks properly before consuming them, because it can Thunderdome out there.

Just remember, if it doesn’t crack, take it back. And if it smells like pee, leave it be.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Itai News
Photos © SoraNews24
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