Police in New Zealand are racing to trace sweets containing “potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine” after they were distributed by a charity in Auckland.
Up to 400 people may have received the sweets from Auckland City Mission as part of a food parcel, said the anti-poverty charity.
The sweets were donated anonymously by a member of the public in a sealed retail package, it added.
At least three people, including a child, sought medical attention afterwards though none are currently in hospital.
“We did not know that the lollies contained methamphetamine when they were distributed,” the charity’s spokesperson told the BBC.
Each individual sweet could have a street value of around NZ$1,000 ($601; £468), according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation.
Police say while the incident could be accidental rather than a targeted operation, they had not drawn any conclusions as it is “a bit early to say”.
The charity alerted the authorities on Tuesday after being alerted by a recipient about the “funny tasting” sweets.
Helen Robinson, chief executive of Auckland City Mission, said that some of the charity’s staff members tried the sweets themselves and agreed with the complaints, and started to “feel funny” afterwards.
They then sent sweets that were still on site to the NZ Drug Foundation for tests, which confirmed that potentially lethal levels of methamphetamine were contained in the samples.
In a statement, the foundation said they found about 3g of methamphetamine in a sweet that was sent for testing.
“A common dose to swallow is between 10-25mg, so this contaminated lolly contained up to 300 doses,” says its head Sarah Helm, adding that swallowing such amount of the drug is “extremely dangerous and could result in death”.
Methamphetamine can cause chest pain, racing heart, seizures, hyperthermia, delirium and loss of consciousness, according to the foundation.
According to Ms Robinson, the mission distributes around 50,000 food parcels a year and only commercially manufactured food are included in these parcels.