WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand, unknowingly distributed sweets filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were 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 may contain the sweets, which were solid blocks of methamphetamine encased in sweet wrappers. Three people were treated in hospital after consuming them, New Zealand authorities said, but were later discharged.
The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would normally drink and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a drug watchdog and policy organization, which first tested the candy. .
Foundation spokesman Ben Birks Ang said disguising drugs as harmless goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more candy could have been distributed throughout New Zealand.
The sweets had a street value of NZ$1,000 ($608) each, suggesting the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental and not a deliberate attack, Birks Ang said.
Authorities’ “initial perception” was that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone wrong, Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown. Agents have recovered 16 of the candies, but they don’t know how many are circulating, he said.
City missionary Helen Robinson said eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming contaminated sweets since Tuesday. The “disgusting” taste meant that most spit them out immediately.
The charity’s food bank only accepts donations of commercially produced food in sealed containers, Robinson said. The pineapple candies, stamped with the Malaysian brand Rinda label, “appeared as such when donated,” and arrived in a retail-sized bag, he added.
Auckland City Mission was alerted on Tuesday by a food bank customer who reported “strange tasting” sweets. Staff tried some of the remaining candy and immediately contacted authorities. One staff member was taken to the hospital after tasting the candy, Baldwin said, adding that a child and a “young man” were also treated at the hospital before being released.
The candy had been donated sometime in the past six weeks, Robinson said. It was unclear how many had been distributed at that time and how many were made of methamphetamine.
Rinda said in a written statement that the company had learned through New Zealand news reports that its candy “may have been misused” and that it would cooperate with authorities.
“We want to be clear that Rinda Food Industries does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products,” said CEO Steven Teh.
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.
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