At least 22 people have died and 74 were hospitalised in serious condition after ingesting cocaine that had apparently been mixed with a toxic substance, in what authorities have called a possible poisoning.
Authorities were scrambling to determine what substance the cocaine had been cut with and on Wednesday were warning anyone who bought the drug within the last 24 hours to throw it away.Possession and personal consumption of cocaine have been decriminalised in the country, while transporting and selling it are still illegal .On Wednesday, Sergio Berni, the security chief for Buenos Aires province, told the television channel Telefe that authorities were trying to find the tainted cocaine “to remove it from circulation”.
Samples of the cocaine had been sent to a laboratory in La Plata for analysis.
“There is a key ingredient that is attacking the central nervous system,” Berni said.Late on Wednesday, crowds waited outside hospitals in Buenos Aires for updates on their loved ones. Three separate hospitals reported several deaths and serious cases of poisoning.
Beatriz Mercado told the AFP news agency she had found her 31-year-old son, one of the victims, lying face-down on the kitchen floor.
“He was almost not breathing, his eyes were rolling back,” she said. She took him to the hospital, where he was on life support as of Wednesday evening.
“I hope in God, nothing else, a miracle.”
Authorities said at least 18 of those hospitalised required intubation.
Meanwhile, police arrested at least 12 people in the Tres de Febrero Partido section of San Martin, a low-income suburb north of the capital.
Residents of the neighbourhood began burning tyres to block roads, protesting what they called the random detention of innocent people.
Judicial officials have said one hypothesis is that the drug was poisoned in a conflict between traffickers, according to The Associated Press.
However, the San Martin public prosecutor, Marcelo Lapargo, told Radio Mitre the theory was “conjecture” at this point.
Amid concerns the death toll could rise, he said authorities’ main concern “is to be able to communicate, so that those who are in possession of this poison know that they should not consume it”.
Officials said they are working quickly to determine what the cocaine was mixed with, but warned those who have bought the drug over the last 24 hours to dispose of it.
Sergio Berni, the security chief for Buenos Aires province, told the television channel Telefe authorities were trying to locate the toxic substance “to remove it from circulation.”
About 10 people were arrested after police raided a house in the poor Tres de Febrero neighborhood where they believe the cocaine was sold.
Packets of cocaine similar to those described by the victims’ families were seized.
The drugs were taken to a laboratory in La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province, for analysis.
Authorities issued an urgent warning early Wednesday after three separate hospitals reported several deaths and serious cases of poisoning. Later in the day, eight hospitals were treating patients.
Several of those being treated told doctors they had taken cocaine together.
Early reports said victims suffered convulsions and sudden heart attacks.
Health authorities said at least four of the victims were men aged between 32 and 45.
“There is a key ingredient that is attacking the central nervous system,” Berni said.
His office said late in the day that emergency services were reporting new patients in “critical condition” being brought to hospital.
Berni explained that “every dealer that buys cocaine cuts it. Some do it with non-toxic substances such as starch. Others put hallucinogens in it, and if there is no form of control, this kind of thing happens.”
He said that on this occasion, however, the drug was cut with a harmful substance as part of a “war between drug traffickers.”
The San Martin public prosecutor, Marcelo Lapargo, told Radio Mitre that authorities’ main concern “is to be able to communicate, so that those who are in possession of this poison know that they should not consume it.”
Investigators fear the toll could rise, with some people who bought the cocaine unable to reach a care center in time.
Lapargo said that this case was “absolutely exceptional.” He also said that the idea of a battle between drug traffickers was “conjecture” at this point.
Police clashed briefly with residents in a part of Tres de Febrero who were protesting the arrest of local young people in the drug raid.