Tunisia – Poisoning of students in Al Jadida: Arrest of two traders

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Manouba Court of First Instance authorized, Saturday, the arrest of an owner of a kiosk selling dried fruits, from the Al Jadida delegation, and a street seller from the region of Beja, for unintentionally provoking physical harm to others. And this, against a backdrop of the sale of sweets of unidentified origin caused the poisoning of 11 students at Habibia primary school,  a security source confirmed to the TAP.

These detentions come after the public prosecutor authorized the opening of an inquiry into the incident, undertaken by agents of the National Guard station in El Jadida, which made it possible to identify the source of the sweets, namely a kiosk adjacent to the aforementioned school, which in turn is supplied by the street vendor. It was also discovered that these are contraband confectionery from a neighbouring country and that they are sold outside legal channels.

By inspecting the kiosk as part of a joint control team with the trade services and the National Food Safety Authority of Manouba, the agents confiscated 43 boxes of the above-mentioned confectionery, and the technical requisitions were delivered and the goods were dispatched for toxicological analyses, pending delivery of their results and medical assessments concerning the children’s condition.

The station agents also executed, this evening, the decision to close the commercial store issued by the National Food Safety Authority of Manouba as part of the immediate measures taken following the incident.