WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A charity that works with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand, unknowingly distributed candy filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine into its food baskets after the candy was donated by a member of the public.
The Auckland City Mission told reporters on Wednesday that staff had begun contacting up to 400 people to trace packages that might contain the sweets – which were solid blocks of methamphetamine packaged in candy wrappers. New Zealand police have opened a criminal investigation.
The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would normally consume and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation — a drug testing and policy organization that first tested the candy.
Foundation spokesman Ben Birks Ang said disguising drugs as harmless goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more sweets could have been distributed throughout New Zealand.
The sweets had a street value of NZ$1,000 (US$608) per sweet, suggesting the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental and not a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.
City missionary Helen Robinson said eight families, including at least one child, have reported consuming the contaminated sweets since Tuesday. No one was hospitalized and Robinson said the “revolting” taste meant most spat them out immediately.
The charity’s food bank only accepts donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging, Robinson said. The pineapple sweets, stamped with Malaysian brand Rinda’s label, “appeared as such when they were donated”, arriving in a retail-sized bag, he added.
The Auckland City Mission was alerted on Tuesday by a food bank customer who reported sweets that “tasted funny”. Employees tasted some of the remaining candy and immediately contacted authorities.
The candy was donated over the past six weeks, Robinson said. It was unclear how many were distributed at that time and how many were made from methamphetamine.
Some of those who received the food parcels were clients of the charity’s addiction service and news of the drug distribution caused distress.
“To say we are devastated is an understatement,” Robinson said.
Methamphetamine is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that dissolves easily in water or alcohol.
Rinda did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
