New Zealand food bank distributes meth-laced candy | Crime news

Hundreds of packages of pineapple candies containing a potentially lethal dose of the drug were distributed.

A charity in New Zealand mistakenly distributed pineapple candy laced with a potentially fatal dose of methamphetamine.

The Auckland City Mission Foodbank apologised on Wednesday for distributing the sweets. Police are working to trace 400 people who may have eaten the sweets, which were donated by an unknown person. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the charity, police said.

Three people – a child, a teenager and a charity worker – sought medical attention after tasting the sweets. None of them are currently in hospital, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin of Auckland police told reporters.

The candy contained 300 times the usual dose of methamphetamine, making it potentially fatal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation.

Ben Birks Ang, a spokesman for the foundation, said hiding drugs in everyday objects was a common smuggling method and warned that more of the candies could be in circulation.

The candy is estimated to be worth about 1,000 New Zealand dollars ($600) each, adding to evidence that the donation was an accident rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.

Authorities suspect a case of cross-border smuggling gone wrong. A criminal investigation is underway.

So far, only 16 candies have been seized, Baldwin said, admitting that an unknown amount is still in circulation.

“To say we are devastated would be an understatement,” said a statement from Auckland City Mission.

A mission representative told reporters that since Tuesday, eight families, including at least one child, had reported eating the contaminated candy.

The “sharp and repulsive” taste caused most people to spit the drugs out immediately, she said, but warned that even “a very slight touch or lick of the substance” could cause serious injury to someone.

While the charity only accepts sealed packages of industrially produced food, the pineapple sweets were delivered in a retail bag with the label of the Malaysian brand Rinda.

Rinda said in a written statement to the AP news agency that its product “may have been misused” and that the company would cooperate with authorities.