Argentine authorities confirmed on Wednesday afternoon (2) that at least 16 people had died and about 50 had to be taken to hospitals in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires because of the consumption of adulterated cocaine.
The material of the probable contamination is not yet known, but the initial hypotheses are that the drug would have been mixed with poison against rats. The police believe that the tampering was done intentionally, within a context of conflicts between drug trafficking groups.
A police operation was carried out in the early hours of Wednesday in the so-called Porta 8, a community in the city of Tres de Febrero, in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires, where the cocaine was allegedly purchased. According to the newspaper Clarín, dozens of people were arrested and packages with a substance similar to the one that caused the poisoning were collected.
A 20-peso note with traces of the drug was also collected from the pocket of one of the people hospitalized and will be analyzed by the experts.
The Argentine press indicates that at least four deaths were recorded at the San Bernardino hospital in Hurlingham, of men between 32 and 45 years old – the identities were not released. Another four deaths were recorded at the Eva Perón hospital in San Martín.
Initial reports indicate that the victims would have suffered convulsions and cardiac arrests.
Residents of the community targeted by the operation accuse the local police of complicity with drug traffickers. The Buenos Aires prosecutor’s office urged consumers who purchased cocaine in the capital’s metropolitan area recently to dispose of the drug.
The municipal government of Tres de Febrero made a similar recommendation, warning of “possible symptoms such as confusion, convulsions and loss of consciousness”.
The investigation of the case will be in charge of the municipality of San Martín. Attorney General Germán Martínez told Clarín that the risk of an increase in the number of victims and internees in the coming days is high. “Someone could have bought cocaine in the last few hours and used it anywhere in the country. The important thing is that whoever has it in his pocket realizes the risk,” he said.
He pointed out that, despite the initial hypothesis falling on a settling of accounts between traffickers, contamination of this magnitude in this context is something rare.
“Each drug dealer who buys cocaine divides it. Some do it with non-toxic substances, such as starch. Others put hallucinogens. If there is no kind of control, these things happen,” said Security Secretary for the province of Buenos Aires, Sergio Berni.
Source: Folha
