New Zealand charity distributes meth "candies" worth Rs 50k to homeless by mistake

It seems like Walter White may have relocated his operations to New Zealand — at least that's what Auckland’s City Mission might have thought when they found themselves at the centre of a bizarre and alarming situation. Imagine the horror when a charity, dedicated to helping the homeless, unknowingly becomes a distributor of methamphetamine-laced candies.

The story unfolds in Auckland, where the City Mission, a charity tirelessly working to support the homeless, found itself in a nightmarish scenario straight out of a TV drama. A well-meaning but ultimately disastrous donation led to the distribution of food parcels that included what appeared to be harmless candies. However, these sweets packed more than just sugar — they contained potentially lethal doses of methamphetamine.

Pineapple-packaged meth

The candies, wrapped neatly in commercial packaging from a Malaysian brand called Rinda, were discovered to be solid blocks of methamphetamine disguised as innocuous pineapple-flavoured treats. New Zealand’s police, understandably concerned, have launched a criminal investigation to unravel how these deadly sweets ended up in the hands of the vulnerable.
The Auckland City Mission immediately went into crisis mode. Realising the gravity of the situation, they began contacting up to 400 recipients to retrieve the contaminated parcels. So far, eight families, including one child, reported consuming the meth-laden candies. Thankfully, no one was hospitalised — probably thanks to the “revolting” taste that caused most people to spit them out before the drug could take full effect.

Half a lakh per piece

But how did these candies, which hold a street value of NZ$1,000 (roughly Rs 50,450) per piece, end up in a charity’s food parcels? The leading theory, according to Ben Birks Ang of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, is that the donation was an accidental blunder rather than a sinister plot. It’s common for drugs to be disguised as everyday items in smuggling operations, and this may have been a mix-up of epic proportions.

The candies had been donated over the past six weeks, and it’s still unclear how many were actually made of methamphetamine. The Mission is now scrutinising its donation process even more rigorously, ensuring that only commercially produced, sealed food items make it to their food bank shelves.
This incident is a stark reminder of the unexpected dangers that can lurk behind even the most well-intentioned acts of kindness. As Auckland’s police continue their investigation, the hope is that no further contaminated candies are out there and that lessons have been learned to prevent such a situation from happening again.

In the meantime, if you’re in Auckland and someone offers you a sweet treat — maybe think twice before indulging.