Italy on alert for water poisoner

Italy's sales of bottled water are likely to plummet

Italian police have launched a search to track down a mystery poisoner who has been injecting a soapy liquid into plastic bottles of mineral water.

Several people in northern Italy have been taken ill after drinking bottled water bought at supermarkets.

Nearly a dozen people have been treated in hospital over the last three weeks after drinking the bottled water.

The latest victim is a 16-year-old girl who was taken ill after drinking water bought from a school vending machine.

The first reported incident was on 19 November when an 11-year-old was taken to hospital in Lombardy Province after drinking from a bottle of water.

Traces of ammonium were later found inside the bottle.

Police say the saboteur, or saboteurs, have been injecting small amounts of poisonous liquids such as bleach, acetone or ammonia just below the cap.

In most cases, consumers have noticed a strange smell before drinking the water and handed the bottles to the police.

A police investigator, Fernando Bassetta, told Italian TV there were likely to be a lot of false alarms as well as copycats in other parts of Italy.

"Recently we have heard of some cases in the centre and south as well. So we tend to think that the vast majority of these cases are emulation," Mr Bassetta said.

Falling sales

The police are focusing their search on supermarkets where they believe the attackers operate.

Almost 10,000 bottles of different brands of water were taken off the shelves in two stores in Turin and Perugia on Tuesday.

Security guards and closed-circuit television cameras in supermarkets across Italy are keeping a close watch on aisles where soft drinks are kept.

Sales of water in plastic bottles are expected to plummet and stores are already reporting a rise in the sale of glass bottles of water.