Paris police this week claimed a major drugs haul – but it wasn’t what it first seemed to be.
image copyrightPrefacure de Police
This week police in Paris announced a “fruitful investigation” and a raid netting MDMA and ecstasy with a street value of over €1m ($1.2m; £860,000).
But it has turned out to be fruitful in a different way.
Sources close to the investigation now say the pink powder was in fact ground up sweets.
A suspect faces prosecution as police also found stolen mobile phones, as well as a machine used to manufacture ecstasy tablets, Le Parisien reports.
But it is not clear why the original haul was reported to be illegal drugs, nor why seemingly large amounts of an innocuous sweet had been ground into powder.
Drug seizures can be misidentified – last year was was initially claimed as Thailand’s largest ketamine bust was found to be a type of cleaning agent.