Halloween Sweets with Metal Parts: Police Clarify Four of 21 Cases
In Austria, children have in some cases tampered with sweets themselves to frighten parents. The Federal Criminal Police has reported 21 suspected cases, four of which have already been clarified.
SOKO "Treat": Four Cases of Tampered Halloween Sweets Clarified
Four of the 21 suspected cases reported nationwide in Austria involving Halloween sweets with metal objects have now been clarified – and in all four cases, children had tampered with the sweets themselves. This was announced by the Federal Criminal Police (BK) on Thursday, as reported by salzburg24.at.
The clarified incidents are distributed across two cases in Styria and one each in Upper Austria and Vienna. In three of these cases, the children said they wanted to frighten their parents. A fourth case stems from a TikTok challenge: the stated objective was to deliberately mislead the police.
Vienna-Donaustadt: 14-year-old charged
A charge was brought in Vienna-Donaustadt. A 14-year-old admitted to tampering with the sweets herself, as confirmed by a police spokeswoman to the APA. The teenager now faces a charge on suspicion of feigning a punishable offence. In a second incident in Vienna-Donaustadt, however, there is currently no evidence of tampering by children – investigations are continuing.
17 Cases Still Unresolved
The specially established special task force "SOKO Treat" of the BK has so far recorded 21 suspected cases from several federal states. In one incident reported in Vienna, it emerged that the sweets in question had been collected in Lower Austria; the Lower Austrian authorities subsequently took over further investigations.
Regarding the remaining 17 unresolved cases, the BK made no further comments when asked by the APA on Thursday afternoon. The investigation group "Treat" is reviewing each incident comprehensively, examining possible connections and pursuing all leads.
Role of the Internet in Focus
The Federal Criminal Police had suspected from the outset that the internet could play a significant role in the dissemination and imitation of such acts. The clarified cases confirmed this assessment. Whether further suspected cases are attributable to online trends, warning notices or other motives is the subject of ongoing investigations.
The BK explicitly emphasised that the results so far do not permit sweeping conclusions about the remaining cases. Actual tampering must be strictly distinguished from copycat offences. At the same time, the BK warned against imitating online challenges or dismissing such actions as harmless pranks: tampering with food can have criminal consequences.
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)