As many as 20 cocaine users have died in Argentina after sampling a deadly batch that left more than 70 others hospitalised in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Early Thursday authorities searched frantically for the remainder of the deadly batch in an effort to get it off the streets and prevent more deaths.
Suspicions are that the cocaine was intentionally adulterated as part of a settling of scores between traffickers.
Reports from the capital said experts were analyzing the drug to find out what substance was added to it to cause so many deaths.
The tainted cocaine was sold in the poor neighborhood “Puerta 8” in San Martin, where police arrested several suspects.
Health authorities said by Thursday morning 20 people had died and 74 had fallen so ill they were admitted to hospital some of them with critical breathing problems.
The deaths have caused panic in the streets among drug users and authorities are warning against using
A 2019 report on drug consumption in the Americas listed Argentina as the country with the second-highest rate of cocaine consumption per person, just behind the United States.
