Cops seek woman who distributed tainted coffee

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GEORGE TOWN: Police are tracking down a woman believed to have distributed pre-mixed coffee laced with drugs which resulted in seven individuals being treated at the Penang Hospital after experiencing extreme fatigue and weakness.

Timur Laut district police chief ACP Anuar Omar said, as such, police urged the woman in her 40’s to come to the nearest police station to assist in the investigations.

“The woman is believed to have distributed the durian flavoured coffee and the pre-mixed white coffee consumed by the seven victims at a market area and several restaurants in Jelutong.

“It is also believed that she has been giving two types of coffee flavours produced by the same company for free to the public for the past two weeks,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Anuar said the police also asked an 18-year-old boy who was said to be also a victim of the pre-mixed coffee to come forward and give a statement to facilitate investigations into the case.

“The teenager was admitted to the Penang Hospital on Jan 27 over symptoms of severe fatigue and weakness after drinking the durian-flavoured coffee but escaped while receiving treatment,” he said. So far, police had recorded statements from seven individuals including a woman who gave the coffee to two Nepalese security guards at a building in Pulau Tikus here, he added.

Anuar said the woman was said to have obtained the coffee from a market for free and did not rule out the possibility that it was an act of sabotage as the company producing the coffee had been producing various types of pre-mixed coffee over the last few years and had also exported them.

He said police also found packets of the two types of coffee believed to be dumped at the foot of Bukit Bendera here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Anuar said the test results of blood and urine samples of the two Nepalese men who were hospitalised after they consumed the coffee on Jan 31 were expected to be obtained by yesterday.

He said the results of the initial screening test on the coffee found that it contained a foreign substance believed to be methamphetamine.

“But the police are still waiting for a complete report from the Chemistry Department to find out whether there is a mixture of drugs or other substances,” he said. — Bernama