Children tampered with Halloween sweets in at least four cases, police say

Children tampered with Halloween sweets in at least four cases investigated in Austria, including two in Styria, police have found, ORF reported Thursday. In three cases, the children apparently wanted to frighten their parents. The fourth may have been linked to an online challenge intended to mislead police.

As of Thursday, police knew of 21 cases nationwide, seven of them reported in Styria. In addition to cases in Leibnitz, Weiz and Murtal, a complaint was recently filed in Gleisdorf.

The federal criminal police office’s specially formed Treat investigation team established within days that children had tampered with the sweets in some cases. Investigations into whether other incidents were linked to online challenges or calls to take part in them are continuing in all affected states.

Police said every case was being carefully examined, including to distinguish actual tampering from copycat acts. The federal criminal police office warned against treating such actions as harmless jokes or imitating online challenges.

Tampering with sweets, deliberately frightening others or triggering police deployments can have criminal consequences, depending on the circumstances. In Austria, young people are generally criminally responsible from the age of 14.