Karachi food poisoning: Police arrest two employees of restaurant under probe

KARACHI: Two employees of a restaurant where two children dined and died a day later from a suspected case of food poisoning have been arrested, police said. 

The siblings, 18-month-old Ahmed and Muhammad, 5, died of alleged food poisoning on November 11, after dining out with their mother at a local eatery. The incident triggered a police investigation into the case, and resulted in the sealing of the restaurant in question.

According to police, a case against the two employees has been registered under “reason to murder” and “destroying evidence”.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Javed Odho said the children's deaths were caused by consuming substandard food at the restaurant in question. 

He said two of the restaurant's employees had been arrested while its owners were on bail.

Medical reports of the children obtained by the police earlier this month revealed that the ill-fated children had consumed substandard food which resulted in food poisoning, eventually causing their death the next day.

Nearly 60 food samples had been sent to the laboratories for chemical analysis following the children’s death. During a raid, the Sindh Food Authority had recovered expired meat from the eatery in question, located in the upscale Zamzama neighbourhood of Karachi.

Sindh Food Authority also revealed that the restaurant in question had been served an improvement notice two months prior to the incident.