Young person arrested for contaminating strawberries

A new alarming trend began went wrong on September 9, when a man was rushed to a hospital in Australia after eating strawberries contaminated with needle. Since then, a young girl has been arrested for mimicking the trend as a prank.

There have now been more than 100 reported cases of sabotage across the country. Authorities are working hard to clamp down on this heinous trend.

A 12-year-old girl has reportedly admitted to inserting needles into strawberries. Police believe that she was taking part in the trend of a copycat prank.

New South Wales (NSW) Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Stuart Smith said a child had been caught in recent days. Many reports stated that the youngster was a boy but it appears Smith made a mistake by calling the child a “he.”

For more on this story go to our Twitter account @amomama_usa. He made the mistake during a press conference in Sydney.

It’s been reported that the unnamed girl placed the needle in a strawberry and showed it to friends at her school in the NSW Blue Mountains. Another student told the teachers and the police were called.

The girl was interviewed at her home where she reportedly made “full admissions.”

Smith said, “Obviously, in the last few days we found a young person has admitted to a prank, including putting needles in strawberries.”

He said the child would be dealt with under the youth cautioning system. The Attorney-General revealed that there were now been more than 100 reported cases of sabotage across the country.

It appears as though the trend came from Queensland and has spread to Tasmania and Western Australia. In Newcastle, a primary school student found a needle inside a banana that was packed in their lunch box.

The child, who is a pupil at St Paul’s Primary School, discovered the fruit was contaminated before biting into it and alerted teachers. Detectives went to investigate and removed the banana for further tests.

A spokesman for the NSW Police said the force would not comment on individual matters and had a “duty of care.” Tasmania Police were said to be investigating 2 more claims of contaminated fruit being sold in Woolworths stores in the Hobart area.

Police also received a report of a metal object found in a strawberry at Kingston around 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The 250g punnet of Pinata brand strawberries had been bought from the Kingston Town Woolworths on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that urgent and harsh new Commonwealth criminal penalties for contaminating food. The ongoing crisis has devastated many Australian farmers.

“This is a shocking and cowardly thing for this individual and others who have jumped onto the bandwagon here to have engaged in,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Reforms will be introduced to Parliament to raise the penalty for food tampering from 10 to 15 years. It will be in line with child pornography and terror financing offences.