A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels (Picture: Ella Millward)
A homeless charity in New Zealand has unknowingly distributed sweets containing a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine after they were donated by a member of the public.
The amount of methamphetamine contained in the sweets is believed to be over 300 times stronger than a typical dose and could be fatal if ingested, the New Zealand Drug Foundation said.
The sweets were found in food parcels after they were donated by a member of the public at some point in the last six weeks.
Charity Auckland City Mission told reporters on Wednesday that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets – which were solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in sweet wrappers.
Auckland City Mission on Wednesday said staff had distributed sweets containing solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers (Picture: Ella Millward)
Three people were treated in hospital after consuming them, New Zealand authorities said, but were later discharged.
Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said eight families – including at least one child – had reported consuming the contaminated sweets, but the ‘revolting’ taste meant most spat them out.
The charity was then alerted to the situation by a food bank client who reported a ‘funny-tasting’ sweet.
The pineapple-flavoured sweets had appeared to be from the Malaysian brand Rinda, and arrived in a retail-sized bag.
Staff tested them and called the authorities after a staffer was taken to hospital.
A young boy is also believed to have been hospitalised after consuming one of the sweets, but has since been discharged.
Some of those who had received the food parcels were clients of the charity’s addiction service and the news that drugs had been distributed had provoked distress.
Three peoplehave been hospitalised by the sweets but have since been discharged (Picture: Hulton Archive)
‘To say that we are devastated is an understatement,’ City Missioner Helen Robinson said, adding that the food bank – which distributes parcels five days a week – was closed on Wednesday.
New Zealand Drug Foundation spokesman Ben Birks Ang said disguising drugs as innocuous goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.
The sweets had a high street value of 1,000 New Zealand dollars (£472) per lolly, which suggested the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Mr Birks Ang said.
The ‘initial perceptions’ of police were that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone awry, said Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown.
Officers have recovered 16 of the candies, but do not know how many are in circulation, he said.
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