Police are advising that concerned parents “check sweets for possible puncture marks”, and contact the authorities immediately if “anything suspicious” is found.
Needles or other sharp objects in candies may be among a parent’s worst fears around the trick-or-treating tradition that comes with Halloween.
This year a number of cases have been confirmed by police across Germany.
No serious injuries have been reported, but the number of incidents is worrying.
Here’s where tampered Halloween sweets have been found so far, and what police are advising as they continue to investigate.
Where were cases reported?
As of Monday, cases have been reported in a handful of German states, including; Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Thuringia, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Pieces of metal were also discovered in sweets in three districts of Saxony-Anhalt.
There was also one case in Austria.
The following details were reported by police offices around the country, and shared by the German Press Agency:
In Filderstadt near Stuttgart, two families found several needles in two milk-hazelnut slices. According to the police, they were not visible from the outside.
In Landshut, Bavaria, screws were stuck in chewy sweets and chocolate bars.
Nearby, police also reported needle finds in Nuremberg and Neuburg.
A similar instance was reported in Leinefelde-Worbis and Herbsleben in Thuringia.
A nine-year-old from Hanover found a sewing needle in each of three individually wrapped sweets – a chocolate bar and two chewy candies.
In the district of Constance, individually wrapped waffle slices contained metallic foreign bodies.
In Essen, a father noticed suspicious puncture holes in the packaging of a chocolate bar that his 13-year-old son had received. Hidden in the bar, he finally found a sharp needle. Elsewhere in Essen, metal pins were discovered in a chocolate bar and in a bag of wine gums.
So far, the police have reported no injuries from the discovered foreign bodies.
A needle is seen in a chocolate bar. According to police, unknown persons distributed sweets with needles to children in the Misburg-Nord district on Halloween. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Hanover Police
Who or what is behind it?
So far, little is known about the background of these instances, but police have said they assume that needles were deliberately inserted into the sweets.
It is so far unknown to authorities if there is a connection between the cases, which are relatively widespread across the country.
In at least one case, from Garbsen near Hanover, a woman reported finding a sewing needle in a chocolate bar that she said she had bought from a grocery store on Friday. The packaging and bars had shown no recognizable evidence of manipulation.
Sharp objects can cause serious internal injuries if swallowed.
Therefore authorities advise that if there is a suspicion that a child has swallowed a sharp object, parents should seek medical help immediately.
Police are also advising that parents check their kids’ sweets for possible puncture marks or contamination.
If any sharp or hard foreign objects are found, parents are advised to save it, along with its packaging, and bring it to their local police station as evidence.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
