New Zealand Police shows pineapple sweets laced with potentially lethal amounts of methamphetamine, in Auckland.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were donated by a member of the public.

Auckland City Mission on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) said that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets — which were solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy 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 usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation — a drug checking and policy organization, which first tested the candies.

Ben Birks Ang, a Foundation spokesperson, said, “disguising drugs as innocuous goods was a common cross-border smuggling technique and more of the candies might have been distributed throughout New Zealand.”

“The sweets had a high street value of NZ$ 1,000 ($608) per candy, which suggested the donation by an unknown member of the public was accidental rather than a deliberate attack,” Mr. Birks Ang said.

The authorities’ “initial perceptions” were that the episode was likely an importation scheme gone awry, said Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, but the nature and scale of the operation was unknown. “Officers have recovered 16 of the candies, but do not know how many are circulating,” he said.

The City Missioner, Helen Robinson, said, “eight families, including at least one child, had reported consuming the contaminated candies since Tuesday (August 14, 2024). The ‘revolting’ taste meant most had immediately spat them out.”

“The charity’s food bank only accepts donations of commercially produced food in sealed packaging,” Ms. Robinson said. “The pineapple candies, stamped with the label of Malaysian brand Rinda, appeared as such when they were donated, arriving in a retail-sized bag,” she added.

Auckland City Mission was alerted Tuesday (August 14, 2024) by a food bank client who reported “funny-tasting” candy. “Staff tasted some of the remaining candies and immediately contacted the authorities. One staff member was taken to hospital after sampling the sweet,” Mr. Baldwin said, adding that a child and a “young person” were also treated in hospital before being discharged.

The candies had been donated sometime in the past six weeks, Ms. Robinson said. It was not clear how many had been distributed in that time and how many were made of methamphetamine.

Rinda said in a written statement the company had learned through New Zealand news reports that its candies “may have been misused” and would cooperate with authorities.

“We want to make it clear that Rinda Food Industries does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products,” said General Manager Steven Teh.

Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

Madurai/Chennai:

In a major bust, the narcotics drug methamphetamine worth Rs 180 crore meant for transport to Sri Lanka was recovered from a rail passenger in Madurai and a dump yard in Chennai by officials, who detained a man and his wife in connection with the seizures.

A total of 36 kg of the drug was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence – from the rail passenger at the Madurai railway station, and another six kg from the Kodungaiyur dump yard in Chennai – in a meticulously planned operation, the central agency said.

The value of the confiscated drugs is approximately Rs 180 crore and the couple has been detained.

Methamphetamine, also known as “ice” or “crystal meth”, is a highly addictive psychostimulant drug that exhibits powerful euphoric effects similar to those of cocaine and has life-threatening consequences, the DRI said in a release.

Acting on a tip-off that a passenger on the Madurai-bound Pothigai Express from Chennai on February 29 would be carrying narcotic substances, the DRI’s Chennai Zone officials laid a trap. As the train arrived at its destination this morning, the team identified the passenger and intercepted him with the help of the Railway Protection Force (RPF)officials.

A search of his baggage yielded 15 packets weighing 30 kg of a white-coloured crystal substance. Tests showed it was methamphetamine. The contraband was immediately seized.

Upon being interrogated, he disclosed that some more methamphetamine packets were kept at his home in Chennai, the release said.

“His home was searched and it was found that his wife had thrown the narcotic packets in the dustbin and that the garbage was taken at the Kondungaiyur dump yard,” the release said.

A DRI team rushed to the dump yard and recovered three packets of methamphetamine weighing six kg.

Preliminary investigation revealed the man was carrying the contraband for transport to Sri Lanka through the coastal route. He and his wife have been detained and further investigation is on.

This is the first major haul from Madurai coming close to the incident of the city police seizing over 800 grams of methamphetamine drugs from a house in KK Nagar last week.

Reacting to the seizure, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said it was “very shocking and painful that the ruling DMK has turned Tamil Nadu into a state where all kinds of drugs like ganja, cocaine, heroin, and now methamphetamine are easily available”.

Instead of containing the circulation of narcotic substances, which is pushing the future of Tamil Nadu into the grave, the DMK government encouraged drug lords and provided them access to the party, Mr Palaniswami said in a post on X. He was referring to a now-sacked DMK functionary who allegedly had links with an international drug cartel that was recently busted.

Tamil Nadu’s Leader of Opposition urged parents to safeguard their children from the evils of drugs.

BJP state chief K Annamalai also lashed out at the ruling dispensation and said Tamil Nadu has become the drug capital of India, and that Chief Minister MK Stalin “should hang his head in shame for transforming this state into a haven for drug traffickers”.

“International druglord and a DMK functionary Jaffar Sadiq is on the run. The NCB is raiding DMK functionaries’ establishments. Rs 1,200 crore worth en route to Tamil Nadu caught off the coast of Gujarat, and today 30 kgs of methamphetamine were caught in transit in Madurai by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence,” he said in a post on X.

“While the widespread network of Jaffar Sadiq’s is being exposed, Thiru MK Stalin remains tight-lipped, leaving one to wonder if he would wake up and act or employ his cronies to divert people’s attention to insignificant issues,” K Annamalai further said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)