Lahore: The mystery behind the toxic sweetmeat that claimed 33 lives in Pakistan’s Punjab province has been resolved with a man confessing to intentionally mix pesticide in them, police said today.
Khalid Mahmood, 18, told police that he had mixed poison (pesticide) in the sweetmeat prepared by his elder brother Tariq at his shop to settle a score with him.
“Tariq used to torture me. I decided to mix pesticide in the sweet so that he is held responsible for selling poisonous sweet and arrested by police,” Mahmood said while recording his confessional statement before a magistrate yesterday.
Khalid confessed to have mixed a liquid pesticide, ‘Exeed’, in the material being prepared for manufacturing sweetmeats at the shop owned by his elder brother, police said.
The incident took place in Layyah district, some 325 kilometers from Lahore, about two weeks ago.
Sajjd Hussain had brought the sweetmeat from Tariq’s shop to celebrate the birth of his child.
It was served to his family members. Their condition deteriorated soon after eating the sweetmeat. They were rushed to the nearby hospital.
Sajjad, his six brothers and a sister and 25 others including five children who consumed the poisonous sweet died.