Sewing needle, nail found in Halloween candy prompt police warning to parents
Police encourage parents to check children's Halloween candy for objects
Fredericton-area parents discovered a sewing needle wedged inside a candy bar their children received during an evening of trick-or-treating on Tuesday.
The parents and three children were trick-or-treating at more than 50 homes in their area and along Brookside Drive between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
When they got home, they discovered the needle.
The Kingsley Road family reported the incident to the Fredericton police.
"When the bar was open it was quite evident you could see there was something in it," said Sgt. Scott MacKenzie of the Fredericton Police Force.
Officers also seized candy wrappings for evidence and have not determined where the incident happened, he said.
The police did not receive any other reports of tainted candy, MacKenzie said.
"It appears to be an isolated incident and we're unsure where this might've occurred," he said.
"They [family] were inside the city but it very easily could've happened outside the city."
MacKenzie said the police force is encouraging parents to search children's candy for objects and report any of their findings to police.
Meanwhile, a nail was also found in one tricker-or-treater's chocolate bar from a home on Edgewood, Centennial or Broadview streets in Bathurst.
A mother discovered the nail hidden in the chocolate bar when she checked the treats.
Jeff Chiasson of the Bathurst Police Force told Radio-Canada he received only one complaint about a nail in a chocolate bar on Halloween this year.
"We had a lot of parents who approached us because they heard that a nail had been found in a bar of chocolate," he said.
In Moncton, a group of children were attacked with pepper spray on Halloween night outside a Moncton school.
Codiac RCMP Staff Sgt. André Potvin said the kids were standing on the steps of Birchmount School around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday when they were approached by two people.
No one was injured and the incident remains under investigation.