Hundreds of packages containing pineapple sweets laced with a potentially lethal dose of the drug were distributed.
A New Zealand charity mistakenly distributed pineapple sweets containing a potentially fatal dose of methamphetamine.
The Auckland City Mission food bank apologised on Wednesday for handing out the sweets. Police are working to trace 400 people who may have eaten the sweets, which were donated by an unknown person, and said there was no suspicion of wrongdoing by the charity.
Three people – a child, a teenager and a charity worker – sought medical attention after eating the sweets. None of them are currently in hospital, Auckland police Inspector Glenn Baldwin told reporters.
According to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, the sweets contained methamphetamine at a dose 300 times higher than what someone would normally take, making them potentially fatal.
Ben Birks Ang, a spokesman for the foundation, said hiding drugs in daily necessities is a common drug trafficking technique and warned that more candy could be in circulation.
The sweets are estimated to be worth about NZ$1,000 ($600) each, adding to the evidence that the gift was accidental rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.
Authorities suspect a cross-border smuggling case gone wrong. A criminal investigation is underway.
Only 16 candies have been recovered so far, Baldwin said, admitting an unknown amount is still in circulation.
“To say we are devastated is an understatement,” the Auckland City Mission said in a statement.
A mission representative told reporters that eight families, including at least one child, had reported eating contaminated candy since Tuesday.
The “acrid and repulsive” taste led most of them to spit it out immediately, she said, but she warned that “just a tiny touch or a tiny touch of the substance” could deeply affect someone.
Although the association only accepts sealed packages of commercially produced foods, the pineapple candies arrived in a retail bag labelled by Malaysian brand Rinda.
Rinda said in a written statement to the AP news agency that his product “may have been misused” and that he would cooperate with authorities.
