A COLOMBIAN businesswoman has been accused of killing two schoolgirls by gifting them poisoned chocolate-covered raspberries.
The killing was said to be an “act of vengeance” after a failed affair with the father of one of her alleged victims.
After the young girls returned home from school, the raspberries were reportedly delivered to a luxury apartment in the Colombian capital, Bogota.
The girls were said to have at first refused the parcel, believing they weren’t expecting any deliveries.
They later tragically died in hospital after eating the dessert wickedly laced with thallium, a colourless and odourless heavy metal.
This substance was initially linked to the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko who died in a London hospital in November 2006.
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Forensic experts have determined the heavy metal, which can be lethal in tiny doses, was deliberately injected into the raspberries.
An Interpol Red Notice has been issued for Zulma Guzman Castro after public prosecutors revealed they wanted her for questioning over the deaths of Ines de Bedout, 14, and her 13-year-old pal Emilia Forero.
When it was determined the young girls had been murdered, Colombia’s prosecution service asked Interpol to arrest university graduate Castro.
Zulma, owner of a car sharing company Car-B, allegedly had an affair with Ines’ dad, Juan de Bedout.
Overnight investigators are also said to be probing the death of Juan’s wife, which ensued two years before the schoolgirls were targeted, according to El Colombiano.
They also claim this investigation comes amid speculation she too could have been the victim of thallium poisoning
Castro, who is protesting her innocence, is understood to have spent time in Brazil, Spain and the UK since leaving Colombia earlier this year.
She claimed in a message which ended up in the hands of a Colombian newspaper: “I find myself in the middle of a very serious situation, where I’m being accused of having been the person who sent a poison that killed two girls.
“They accuse me of having fled to Argentina, and then to Brazil, Spain and the UK.
“Those who know me know I haven’t fled anywhere. They know I’ve been working in Argentina and began a masters in journalism here.
“I went to Spain more than a month ago, with a stopover in Brazil, and then to the UK because of my son.
“I imagine they’re accusing me because I had a secret relationship with the father of one of the girls.”
Castro then alleged public prosecutors never informed her about the investigation.
She is said to have sent a lawyer pal to find out more after hearing a whirlwind of rumours.
The Colombian added: “The following day my name is in the media. I hope those that know me support me and defend me.”
The Red Notice orders police in Interpol’s 196 member countries to locate and detain Guzman, whose current whereabouts is unknown.
The two schoolgirls tragically died at Bogota’s benchmark hospital, Santa Fe de Bogota Foundation, just under a week after they were poisoned on April 3.
Another pal and a 21-year-old brother of one of the victims were also hospitalised after snacking on the berries but survived.
The girl who miraculously survived is understood to have suffered lasting injuries.
Prosecutors allege Guzman, who left Colombia on April 13, used a courier firm to deliver the fruit dessert.
The package was delivered to the girls at approximately 7:00pm local time on April 3.
Elsewhere, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, a Christmas cake poisoning left a family fighting for their lives.
Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, has been accused by prosecutors of the murder of three relatives and the attempted murder of another three, on Christmas Eve last December.
The victims had all eaten from the cake, which forensic experts found had been baked with arsenic-laced flour – a deadly poison.
Moura dos Anjos denied any wrongdoing.
Local police chief Cléber dos Santos Lima previously said he was “certain that she researched, bought … and used the poison to kill her victims”.
He explained that cops had found evidence Anjos had purchased arsenic on four separate occasions.