Karachi police deliver samples to Lahore lab

Police investigators have sealed the room of two minor brothers who died on Sunday apparently of food poisoning in Defence neighbourhood.

The investigators from the police department and the Food Authority remained busy on Tuesday in trying to ascertain the cause behind the death of 18-month-old Ahmed and five-year-old Muhammad.

The brothers lost their lives on Sunday afternoon allegedly due to food poisoning from dining at a restaurant in Zamzama and consuming sweets from a shop outside an amusement park late on Saturday night. Their mother also fell sick and remains in hospital.

Police and food authority officials had collected 30 samples to ascertain the cause of death through forensics. “A total of 30 samples have been dropped at the Lahore-based laboratory in Punjab,” says Clifton ASP Suhai Aziz, who is a part of the investigations.

“These 30 samples were collected from the minors’ house, restaurant, a shop at the amusement park and a car.” She said another six samples collected during the postmortems on the minors were also delivered to the laboratory by Karachi police on Tuesday.

After sealing the shop outside the amusement park and the restaurant in Zamzama, the police investigators sealed the room of the brothers. Police officials said they would register a case on behalf of the family or the state if any criminal activity or negligence was found during the investigations. They said the police were investigating to ascertain whether the children’s death was the result of an accident or murder.