WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand, unknowingly distributed candy containing a potentially fatal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the candy was donated by a member of the public.
The Auckland City Mission said on Wednesday that staff had begun contacting up to 400 people to trace packages that might contain the candy – solid blocks of methamphetamine wrapped in candy wrappers. Three people were treated in hospital after consuming it, New Zealand authorities said, but were later released.
The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the amount normally ingested and could be fatal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a drug control and policy organization that first tested the candy.
Ben Birks Ang, a spokesman for the foundation, said hiding drugs as harmless goods was a common method of cross-border smuggling and that more of the sweets may have been distributed across New Zealand.
The street value of the sweets was NZ$1,000 (US$608) each, suggesting the donation by an unknown assailant was an accident rather than a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.
Authorities’ “initial impression” was that the incident was likely an importation scheme gone wrong, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said, but the nature and extent of the operation were unknown. Officers have seized 16 of the candies but do not know how many are in circulation, he said.
City missionary Helen Robinson said eight families, including at least one child, had reported eating the contaminated candy since Tuesday. The “disgusting” taste caused most to spit it out immediately.
The charity’s food bank only accepts donations of industrially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said. The pineapple candies, which bore the label of Malaysian brand Rinda, “looked like that when donated” and arrived in a retail-sized bag, she added.
The Auckland City Mission was alerted on Tuesday by a food bank customer who reported “funny tasting” candy. Staff sampled some of the remaining candy and immediately notified authorities. One staff member was taken to hospital after tasting the candy, Baldwin said, adding that a child and a “young person” were also treated at the hospital before being discharged.
The candies were donated sometime in the last six weeks, Robinson said. It is unclear how many were distributed during that time and how many contained methamphetamine.
Rinda did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that dissolves easily in water or alcohol.
