NZ police race to recover meth-laced sweets distributed by charity

Police have asked people that have sweets wrapped in brand Rinda’s yellow pineapple flavour packaging to contact them immediately.

“It’s vital the public are aware of these lollies and the hazard that they present,” Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Describing it as a “deeply worrying” matter, he said that such cases of food laced with meth had happened before and they would likely work with Interpol on the investigation, which may take some time.

Rinda, a Malaysian confectioner, told BBC News that it has come to their attention that their products may have been misused in connection with illegal substances and the company “does not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs” in their products.

“We will work closely with law enforcement and relevant authorities to address this issue and protect the integrity of our brand,” the firm said in a statement.

Steven Peh, the general manager of Rinda, told local news site Stuff NZ that the did contaminated candy he had seen in photos was white, whereas Rinda’s product is yellow.

The authorities are still trying to understand the scale of the spread. 16 packets have been recovered so far – police say each packet could possibly contain 20 – 30 sweets but they don’t know the exact number in the 16 packets. Up to 400 people have been contacted by the charity.

Ms Robinson said the sweets likely came into the charity’s posession in about mid-July, but that they are calling everyone as far back as 1 July to be safe.

Ben Birks Ang, deputy director of the NZ Drug Foundation, said the organisation believes the incident was unlikely to be intentional as “disclosing substances as something else to smuggle it into another area is common”.

But there are still fears that other charities could be affected.

Ms Robinson said she had contacted other charities to check for their sweets.

“To say we are devastated is an absolute understatement,” she told the press, adding that one in five in New Zealand experience food insecurity, which makes the incident “deeply distressing”.