Auckland City Mission told reporters that staff had contacted 400 people to trace packages containing solid blocks of methamphetamine in candy wrappers. New Zealand police have launched a criminal investigation.
The amount of methamphetamine in each candy bar is up to 300 times the level a person would normally take and can be fatal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a drug control and policy organization that first tested the candies.
The market value of the candies was US$608 per candy bar, suggesting that the donation by an unknown person was accidental rather than a deliberate attack.
He added that the pineapple candies, stamped with the label of the Malaysian brand Rinda, “looked like this when they were donated” and came in a retail-sized bag.
“At Rinda Food Industries, we would like to make it clear that we do not use or condone the use of any illegal drugs in our products,” said Steven Teh, an official of confectionery brand Rinda.
