A man has died and four people have been arrested after taking an “exceptionally strong batch” of heroin in North Devon.
Devon police declared a major incident on Friday night when they discovered the Class A lot drugs had been circulated.
At midnight, the man died and eight others who had also taken the drug were treated in hospital, police said. They said drugs were circulating in Westward Ho!, Bideford and Barnstaple.
Police said the man died despite receiving medical treatment at the scene.
Two men and two women were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the supply of a controlled substance and the major incident was brought to an end on Saturday morning, police added.
All currently remain in police custody. The condition of the eight people who required hospital treatment was not immediately released by police.
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North and West Devon Superintendent Toby Davies said: “As soon as we became aware of the problem this substance was likely to cause on Friday night, we did everything we could with partners to reach out to the drug-using community and alert them. them about possible danger they were facing.
“We continue to work with healthcare partners to warn those who may be substance users to exercise extreme caution.
“However, we would like to reassure the community that we believe this is now contained.”
He added: “If anyone fears they are in danger or in the company of someone suffering a medical episode, we ask that they contact 999 to seek appropriate medical help.”
The College of Policing defines a serious incident as “an event or situation that requires a response under one or more emergency services major incident plans” and which “will generally include the involvement of a large number of people, directly or indirectly “.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
