Pins and nails in Halloween sweets: incidents reported across Germany and Austria
Children in eight German federal states and in Linz, Austria have discovered pins, needles and nails in sweets collected during Halloween. Police suspect intentional tampering, though no injuries have been reported so far.
Metal objects found in sweets across Germany and Austria
Parents and children have discovered hidden metal objects — pins, needles, nails and screws — in Halloween sweets in several locations in Germany and in Linz, Austria. Police in many places are working on suspicion that the objects were intentionally placed in the sweets. No injuries have been reported so far, according to topky.sk citing the DPA news agency.
Cases were recorded in eight German federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Thuringia, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt. The problem affected various types of sweets — chocolate bars, chewing gum, jelly sweets and wafer biscuits.
In western German city Essen, two separate incidents were reported. One father noticed suspicious punctures on the packaging of a chocolate bar received by his 13-year-old son — upon inspection, he found a sharp pin inside. Other parents in the same city found metal pins in a chocolate bar and in a packet of gummy sweets. Since the incidents affected different districts and different types of sweets, police admitted that multiple perpetrators could be behind them.
In the town of Filderstadt near Stuttgart, two families discovered several needles inside wafer biscuits with milk and hazelnut filling. According to police, the objects were not visible from the outside at all. In Bavarian Landshut, screws were found hidden in chewing gum and chocolate bars. A nine-year-old girl from Hanover discovered a sewing needle in three separately wrapped sweets — in one chocolate bar and two pieces of chewing gum.
One case has also been reported from Austria. A father from Linz found nails approximately one centimetre long in sweets his children collected during Halloween. Upper Austrian police stated in a Monday statement that children received various chocolate bars and chewing gum on Saturday — the nails were in some cases not visible from the outside.
Police in several cities called on the public not to consume Halloween sweets from the affected areas without prior careful inspection. DPA points out that sharp or pointed objects can cause serious internal injuries if swallowed — damage to the oesophagus, stomach or intestines — which can quickly become life-threatening. Based on individual reports so far, conclusions cannot be drawn that are valid for all of Germany, the agency emphasises.
Source: Google News SK