T

housands of boxes of biscuits distributed to help curb malnutrition problems among elementary school students in East Nusa Tenggara are reported to contain dangerous sharp materials.

Various sharp objects such as razor blades, glass splinters, gravel and straight pins were allegedly found in the biscuits, reportedly donated by the Saudi government through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and distributed by Care International.

The boxes were distributed to hundreds of schools and posyandu (community health center) in 17 districts in North Timor Tengah regency. No fatalities have been reported so far, but many have urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the reported case.

"We have secured some of the evidence including the razor blades, splinters, pins and the biscuits. The investigation is still ongoing," Chief of the regency police's detective and crime unit First Insp. Eko M Probo Cahyono said on behalf of police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Adi Wibowo.

At least eight out of the hundreds of recipient schools filed reports to the local police.

"We reported the case at the end of last month, after some of our students found various sharp materials in their biscuit packages," headmaster Lazarus Tefa of Kiupukan I Catholic Elementary School said.

Lazarus said the sharp objects were mostly found sandwiched between the biscuits in the packages the students received. Some of the students claimed to have found the objects while eating the biscuits.

"I felt the sharp objects in the biscuits and my mouth was bleeding. I spat the biscuit out and realized there was a razor blade and a splinter," said a student, adding some others had encountered gravel and pins when eating the biscuits.

According to Lazarus, almost all the recipient schools found similar objects in their donated biscuit packages.

The regency administration has asked the donor institutions to withdraw the biscuits to prevent any fatalities. The recipient schools, similarly, have also asked the WFP and Care International for clarification.

Care International Kupang's Nutrition Rehabilitation program manager Willem Leong was not available for comment, after being contacted several times.

"Pak Willem is not in the office right now. Please leave your cell phone number so he can call you back later for clarification," an office employee said.

In Jakarta, Care International Indonesia's communication officer Wiwik Widyastuti told The Jakarta Post over the phone her office had indeed received a report about the biscuits.

"We are still investigating. We do not yet know where the problem comes from. We have been in touch with the WFP and are still waiting to hear from them. I'm sorry we cannot yet give a statement regarding the matter. We'll let you know if we have one," Wiwik said.

Mitra Salima Suryono, public information officer of WFP, said in a statement made available to The Post on Friday that WFP is very concerned about reports of tampering of fortified biscuits, which threaten a key nutrition program to hundreds of thousands of needy people in West Timor.

Independent investigations have demonstrated that this tampering occurred after the biscuits leave the control of WFP and the cooperating partners.