Osaka prosecutors have charged a man with using thallium, a toxin intended to kill rats, to kill a female acquaintance.
Hinako Hamano, a 21-year-old university student, was allegedly killed by Kazuki Miyamoto, 37, last October after thallium was allegedly added to her drink.
Moreover, thallium was just discovered in his female relative who has been unconscious since 2020, according to sources cited by the local media.
An adult could die from just 1g of it.
Police, however, have not established a motive or how the suspect obtained the poison. The suspect was taken into custody in Kyoto on March 3.
Because it has no taste or smell and is a soft metal that dissolves in water, thallium is difficult to find outside of a laboratory.
When Mr. Miyamoto, a real estate broker, visited Ms. Hamano at her Kyoto apartment on October 11 and 12, it’s thought that he gave her thallium.
