The Glico president kidnapped On the night of 18 March 1984 armed men broke into the Ezaki Glico president's home and took him away. They demanded 1 billion yen and 100 kg of gold. On 21 March he escaped from a warehouse in Ibaraki, Osaka.
2 Sources 2 Connections The Monster with 21 Faces The name the group gave itself, apparently taken from the Fiend with Twenty Faces in Edogawa Rampo's detective stories. Its letters to the newspapers, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, mocked the police.
2 Sources 8 Connections Glico pulls its products When the group claimed to have laced Glico sweets with cyanide, Glico cleared its products from the shelves, losing more than 21 million dollars and laying off 450 part-time workers. On 26 June the group wrote that it forgave Glico.
1 Sources 1 Connections The fox-eyed man The man who watched an undercover detective, posing as a Marudai employee, on a train during the ransom drop of 28 June 1984. He was large, wore sunglasses and had eyes like a fox's. The detectives lost him, and in January 1985 police published his composite.
2 Sources 2 Connections Poisoned Morinaga sweets Between 7 and 13 October 1984, Morinaga sweets labelled "poison inside, danger, eat this and you die" were found in shops in Osaka, Hyōgo, Kyoto and Aichi. Thirteen contained sodium cyanide.
1 Sources 3 Connections The security camera photo A security camera caught a man in a baseball cap putting sweets on a shop shelf. Police released the picture on 16 October.
2 Sources 1 Connections The House Foods drop Having demanded 100 million yen from House Foods, the group changed the drop point four times on the night of 14 November. Police saw the fox-eyed man again at the Ōtsu rest area on the Meishin Expressway, and again failed to catch him.
2 Sources 3 Connections The van that listened to the police That same night a Shiga patrol car, unaware of the operation, shone a light on a van parked with its lights off, and the van sped away. Found abandoned, it held a receiver tuned to the radio traffic of police in six prefectures including Osaka and Kyoto. It had been stolen two days earlier.
2 Sources 2 Connections The last letter On 12 August 1985 the group wrote to the press that it was done tormenting food companies. Nothing was heard from it again.
1 Sources 1 Connections Every statute expired The limit on the kidnapping ran out in March 1994 and the one on attempted murder by poisoned sweets on 13 February 2000. It was the first of the National Police Agency's designated wide-area cases to end without an arrest.
2 Sources 2 Connections The novel Tsumi no Koe Takeshi Shiota's 2016 suspense novel set against the case, filmed in 2020. Kaoru Takamura's 1997 novel Lady Joker was also inspired by it.
1 Sources 1 Connections was the group behind claimed to have poisoned planted recorded was suspected of leading reappeared at was found the night of listened in for demanded 100 million yen from ended the campaign of expired for expired for drew on Control map, One finger scrolls the page. Two fingers move or zoom the map.
Select a card or connection to inspect it. − 100% + Fit board
Connected clues12 Source index2 Open questions3
Follow recorded connections through a shared clue. This does not establish a direct relationship between the endpoints.
Item The Glico president kidnapped On the night of 18 March 1984 armed men broke into the Ezaki Glico president's home and took him away. They demanded 1 billion yen and 100 kg of gold. On 21 March he escaped from a warehouse in Ibaraki, Osaka. User contribution ↑ was the group behind It took the name in letters sent after the kidnapping. Sources 1 Concept The Monster with 21 Faces The name the group gave itself, apparently taken from the Fiend with Twenty Faces in Edogawa Rampo's detective stories. Its letters to the newspapers, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, mocked the police. User contribution ↑ expired for The kidnapping charge. Sources 2 Concept Every statute expired The limit on the kidnapping ran out in March 1994 and the one on attempted murder by poisoned sweets on 13 February 2000. It was the first of the National Police Agency's designated wide-area cases to end without an arrest. User contribution Concept The Monster with 21 Faces The name the group gave itself, apparently taken from the Fiend with Twenty Faces in Edogawa Rampo's detective stories. Its letters to the newspapers, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, mocked the police. User contribution ↓ was the group behind It took the name in letters sent after the kidnapping. Sources 1 Item The Glico president kidnapped On the night of 18 March 1984 armed men broke into the Ezaki Glico president's home and took him away. They demanded 1 billion yen and 100 kg of gold. On 21 March he escaped from a warehouse in Ibaraki, Osaka. User contribution ↓ claimed to have poisoned Glico pulled its products. Sources 1 Item Glico pulls its products When the group claimed to have laced Glico sweets with cyanide, Glico cleared its products from the shelves, losing more than 21 million dollars and laying off 450 part-time workers. On 26 June the group wrote that it forgave Glico. User contribution Person The fox-eyed man The man who watched an undercover detective, posing as a Marudai employee, on a train during the ransom drop of 28 June 1984. He was large, wore sunglasses and had eyes like a fox's. The detectives lost him, and in January 1985 police published his composite. User contribution ↓ was suspected of leading He appeared at two ransom drops. Sources 1 Concept The Monster with 21 Faces The name the group gave itself, apparently taken from the Fiend with Twenty Faces in Edogawa Rampo's detective stories. Its letters to the newspapers, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, mocked the police. User contribution ↓ reappeared at At the Ōtsu rest area. Sources 2 Item The House Foods drop Having demanded 100 million yen from House Foods, the group changed the drop point four times on the night of 14 November. Police saw the fox-eyed man again at the Ōtsu rest area on the Meishin Expressway, and again failed to catch him. User contribution Item Poisoned Morinaga sweets Between 7 and 13 October 1984, Morinaga sweets labelled "poison inside, danger, eat this and you die" were found in shops in Osaka, Hyōgo, Kyoto and Aichi. Thirteen contained sodium cyanide. User contribution ↑ planted With warning labels. Sources 1 Concept The Monster with 21 Faces The name the group gave itself, apparently taken from the Fiend with Twenty Faces in Edogawa Rampo's detective stories. Its letters to the newspapers, written in hiragana and Osaka dialect, mocked the police. User contribution ↑ recorded Published on 16 October. Sources 1 Work The security camera photo A security camera caught a man in a baseball cap putting sweets on a shop shelf. Police released the picture on 16 October. User contribution More shared clues (8) AI research is a draft. Read the sources and check the context.