Six concert patrons died 10 minutes after taking drugs

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KUALA LUMPUR: Six of the people who died from taking the new ecstasy drug succumbed within 10 minutes.

Director of Bukit Aman’s Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (JSJN), Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the drug was a new type in this country and possibly being tried in the market here by the drug syndicates.

In fact, preliminary investigations by the police found that the drug had been openly distributed among patrons of the Festival Future Music Asia 2014 (FMFA) which had been scheduled for three days.

“The investigations and early findings from the hospital tests show that all of them tested positive for methampetamine and amphetamine,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Early last Saturday, six people, including three women, died from drug usage after suffocating while at the concert while 15 others were now being treated at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre hospitals for drug abuse.

He said prior to the incident, police had detained 40 people including nine for possessing ecstasy, nine for ganja while 22 others were suspected of taking other drugs which had yet to be identified.

“Those who were detained for possessing ecstasy were four foreigners and five locals; possession of ganja were two foreigners and seven locals, while the 22 others included 16 foreigners from Zimbabwe, Australia, Indonesia, India and six locals,” he said.

He said based on studies done by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a new drug is designed every fortnight.

Meanwhile, three non-governmental organisations (NGO) have lodged police reports against the organiser of Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014 following the deaths. — Bernama