20 killed, 74 sickened by adulterated cocaine in Argentina

Buenos Aires: Apparently adulterated cocaine killed 20 people and seriously sickened 74 others with 18 of those requiring mechanical respiration, health officials said early Thursday.

According to details, authorities searched frantically for the remainder of the deadly batch to get it off the streets before it is consumed.

Experts were still analyzing the drug to determine what was in it that caused the causalities. 

As per Judicial authorities, one hypothesis being considered was that the cocaine was intentionally adulterated as part of a settling of scores between traffickers. 

Police officials said that the cocaine was sold in the poor neighborhood “Puerta 8” in San Martín — a suburb to the north of Argentina’s capital.

Police, however, arrested a dozen people.

On Tuesday, Argentine authorities initially reported that eight members of the same group had died after buying the drug but as time passed, the number of deaths grew. 

Sergio Berni, the security minister for Buenos Aires province, called on “those who have bought drugs in the last 24 hours to discard what they bought,” urging not use it.