Bakery worker arrested after filming himself scratching his nose then rubbing all the loaves in coronavirus video prank
SHOCKING footage of a bakery worker contaminating batches of bread rolls amid the coronavirus crisis has sparked outrage in Ecuador.
The disgusting clip was widely shared after the unnamed man filmed himself touching his nose before wiping his fingers on the freshly baked dough in Guayaquil.
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The culprit – himself wearing a surgical mask – grins as he glides his hands over buns rolling past on a conveyor belt.
The footage sparked a social media campaign to hunt down the sicko after causing outrage across the South American country.
He was eventually identified as an employee of bakery chain California Panadería & Pastelería.
The chain said the man had been identified and arrested, branding the prank a “terrorist act”.
The company added that the batch of bread had been pulled from shelves.
Pedro Pablo Duart, governor of Guayas province where the bakery chain is based, posted pictures of the suspect in cuffs in front of a police car.
He wrote: “One less antisocial on the streets of Guayaquil.”
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Ecuador has been one of the hardest hit countries in South America so far, with more than 1,900 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 58 deaths.
And the worst hit area has been Guayaquil, where the bakery incident happened.
Troops have now been put on the streets in many neighbourhoods to enforce a lockdown, with hundreds arrested for breaching it.
The bakery prankster is not the first to spark outrage amid the global pandemic that has already killed more than 35,000 around the world.
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Another man who recorded himself deliberately contaminating goods by licking grocery store products was also accused of terrorism and arrested in the US.
Cody Pfister, 26, has been charged with making a terrorist threat following the “disgusting” act at a Walmart in in Warrenton, Virginia.
And a Brit boy, 14, was arrested and charged after allegedly coughing and spitting on a woman, 66, and shouting “coronavirus” in Manchester.
