June 25 (Reuters) - Law-enforcement officials and retailers are investigating a recent wave of bomb threats across the United States, targeting grocery operators and other stores, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Retail companies including Kroger (KR.N), Walmart (WMT.N) and Amazon's (AMZN.O) Whole Foods Market, among others, have received bomb threats at their stores in recent months, the report said, adding some callers demanded gift cards, bitcoin or money and threatened to detonate bombs if payments were not made. These threats have been spread across various areas from New Mexico to Wisconsin. A similar incident was reported in a suburb north of Chicago, where a caller told a Whole Foods Market employee a pipe bomb had been placed in the store and demanded $5,000 in bitcoin, according to the Wall Street Journal. According to the report it is unclear to authorities whether the threats are part of an organized effort.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 25, 2023 20:41 UTC