CHILDREN in Bury are being targeted by dealers selling home-made 'sweets' laced with potentially lethal drugs.

Police officers working to target organised criminals in the borough, under Operation Pevek, confirmed they had seized products that look identical to popular sweets like Maltesers or Skittles but are infused with cannabis and sometimes hard drugs like ecstasy.

The popularity of ‘drug sweets’ has led to a huge number of alarming incidents across the UK with officers confirming that one teenage girl had to be treated for an overdose in a Tesco car park in Bury after ingesting the dangerous 'treats'.

An address in Bury has been raided and arrests made with investigations ongoing.

Sgt Martyn Bannister said: “In summer 2020 we received intelligence that drugs were being dealt in Bury to children in the form of sweets.

“These ‘sweets’ were coming laced with cannabis and MDMA. This resulted in a 15-year-old girl overdosing in the Tesco car park. Fortunately it was non-fatal, but it was clear it was a very serious problem we had to solve.

“We were arresting the dealers but we could not find out where they were being made. But following an increase of intelligence in December and January we confirmed that these products were being made in Bury.

“Eventually we got an address where we believed the products were being produced and last week we executed a warrant at that address.”

At the address, Sgt Bannister said officers found Kit Kats laced with drugs along with takeaway boxes labelled with different sweet names including Maltesers and Snickers.

“It is essentially ‘space cake’ laced with cannabis and MDMA (ecstasy) and sold for approximately £20 per pack,” he said.

Other discoveries included cannabis products imported from America, boxes of American cereal laced with drugs, ‘cannabis candy’ and popping candy, several bags of cannabis bush and approximately £10,000 in cash.

“What was at this address was essentially a cottage industry,” added Sgt Bannister. “The sweets were being brought there, drugs were being brought there and they were being packaged there.”

Sgt Bannister confirmed three adults were arrested on possession of drugs with intent to supply and money laundering charges.