Russia makes arrests after dozens fall ill with suspected botulism

Russian investigators have arrested and charged three people after more than 120 people fell ill in Moscow and other cities after suspected food poisoning.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, said it had arrested the head of a food manufacturing company, as well as the director of a food delivery service and the head of quality control.

The Interfax news agency reported that more than 120 people consulted doctors in Moscow after coming down with poisoning and symptoms of suspected botulism, a rare, life-threatening illness that attacks the body's nerves and causes breathing difficulties and muscle paralysis. Illness-causing bacteria can enter the body in poorly stored food.

About 30 people from the cities of Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow, also came to the hospital with symptoms of botulism, Interfax reported.

Dozens of people are in intensive care across the three cities. A Moscow official quoted by Interfax said the patients were being kept under regular observation and their symptoms were not life-threatening.

The investigation committee said it determined that the food companies violated multiple sanitary and epidemiological standards, including failing to submit laboratory test reports and engaging in poor production controls.

Investigators said they also charged the men with aiding the illegal immigration of Uzbek nationals. Many food delivery workers in Russia come from Central Asian countries.