A New Zealand-based homeless charity, Auckland City Mission, inadvertently distributed candy containing a potentially fatal dose of methamphetamine, which was donated by an anonymous person. The amount of the drug found in each candy wrapper was up to 300 times the normal intake, posing a lethal risk, according to the New Zealand Drugs Foundation.
The charity is now in the process of reaching out to 400 people in an attempt to track down any remaining packages that may contain the highly addictive stimulant. Three people were hospitalized after consuming the candy with drugs, but were later released.
Auckland city missionary Helen Robinson revealed eight families, including at least one child, had consumed the tainted sweets. However, the unpleasant taste led most to spit them out. The charity was first alerted to the problem by a food bank customer who reported a “funny tasting” sweet.
The sweets, wrapped in wrappers labeled by the Malaysian brand Rinda and allegedly pineapple-flavored, were tested by staff, who then alerted the authorities. A member of staff was also hospitalized following the incident.
Ben Birks Ang, a spokesman for the New Zealand Drug Foundation, said disguising drugs as ordinary products was a common tactic in cross-border smuggling. Each tainted sweet has a street value of £473, leading him to suggest the charity donation was likely accidental.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin suggested the incident may have been the result of an importation scheme gone wrong. Sixteen of the drug-laced candies have been recovered so far, but it is not yet known how many are still unaccounted for.
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