2016 Punjab sweet poisoning
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From 20 April to 8 May 2016, at least 33 people, including five children, died in District Layyah, Punjab, Pakistan, after eating purposely poisoned laddu, a baked confection.[1] Testing of the confectioneries revealed they were laced with the highly toxic insecticide chlorfenapyr. A sweet shop owner, Khalid Mahmood, confessed to mixing the pesticide into the sweets after an argument with his brother and co-owner.[2]
A pesticide shop, close by the bakery where the sweets were bought, was being renovated, and the owner had left his products at the bakery for safekeeping.[3] Mahmood may have used a small packet in the sweet mixture.[4]
A man bought 5 kg of laddu for the celebration of a newborn on 17 April. At least 50 people consumed the sweets, and ten of them died the same day.[3] On 25 April, the death toll rose to 23, with 52 people still being treated at various hospitals.[4] On 1 May the death toll rose to 33 with 13 people in hospital.[3][5] In one case, a baby lost his father, six uncles, and one aunt.
