A charity in New Zealand has mistakenly distributed pineapple sweets laced with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine.
The Auckland City Mission foodbank apologised on Wednesday for handing out the sweets. Police are working to track down 400 people who might have consumed the sweets, which were donated by an unknown person, and have said there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the charity.
Three people – a child, a teenager and a charity worker – sought medical treatment after tasting the boiled sweets. None are currently in hospital, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin from Auckland police told reporters.
The sweets contained methamphetamine at 300 times the dose that someone would usually take, making them potentially lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation.
Ben Birks Ang, a foundation spokesman, said disguising drugs in everyday goods is a common drug smuggling technique and warned that more of the candies might be in circulation.
The sweets are estimated to be worth about 1,000 New Zealand dollars ($600) each, adding to the evidence that the donation was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.
Authorities suspect a cross-border smuggling case gone wrong. A criminal investigation is under way.
Just 16 candies have recovered so far, Baldwin said, admitting that an unknown amount is still in circulation.
“To say we are devastated is an understatement,” the Auckland City Mission said in a statement.
A representative from the mission told reporters that eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the contaminated candies since Tuesday.
The “acrid and revolting” taste had led most of them to immediately spit them out, she said but warned that “only a very small touch or lick of the substance” could deeply affect someone.
While the charity only accepts sealed packages of commercially-produced foods, the pineapple sweets arrived in a retail bag emblazoned with the label Malaysian brand Rinda.
Rinda said in a written statement to the AP news agency that its product “may have been misused” and that it would cooperate with authorities.
