Police across Germany are investigating after needles, nails, screws and other sharp metal objects were found in sweets collected by children while trick-or-treating for Halloween.
German authorities said on 2 November that reports had come in from several states, and urged parents to check children’s treats very carefully. Police believe most or all of the objects were placed deliberately to cause harm, according to reports by DW and AFP, although at least one early alarm was later found to be accidental. No injuries had been confirmed as of 1–2 November, and no suspects had been identified.
Where the reports came from
Incidents were reported in Thuringia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate, with further reports in North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, police said.
In Thuringia, children in the village of Wintzingerode found metal sewing needles in sweets after trick-or-treating, and a needle was found in a marshmallow in Herbsleben. Police in Thuringia said the children who found a needle there were aged four and 10. In Umpferstedt, near Weimar, staples were found in chewy sweets collected by two children aged 11 and 12 on Saturday evening.
In Bavaria, a child in Nuremberg bit into a needle hidden inside a chocolate bar but was not injured, and parents in Landshut found screws and other sharp metal objects in sweets and chocolate bars. In Munich, a nine-year-old who had been going door to door with friends on 31 October bit into a sweet containing a nail, but managed to spit it out without injury.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg, two families in Filderstadt found needles in chestnut wafers, and metal objects were also found in Rielasingen-Worblingen. Police said that in two cases in the state, the needles were concealed in such a way that they could not be spotted from the outside.
Further north, two families in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, found needles in chocolate bars and a bag of gummy sweets collected from doorsteps on Halloween night. In Holm, Schleswig-Holstein, parents found nails in chewy sweets, beginning with a nail measuring three and a half centimetres, and on the Baltic island of Fehmarn an 11-year-old girl found a three-centimetre sewing needle inside a partially eaten chocolate bar. In Lower Saxony, a needle was found in a chocolate bar in Salzgitter, and a nine-year-old girl in Hanover found sewing needles in three sweets. A nail was also reported in candy in Bremen.
Investigations under way
Police have opened criminal investigations in several cases on suspicion of attempted grievous or dangerous bodily harm. Because children visit many houses while trick-or-treating, police said it remains unclear exactly where any of the children received the tampered sweets, which makes tracing the origin difficult.
One case shows why police are asking the public not to jump to conclusions about every find. In Appenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, a nine-year-old boy found two tiny magnets, about two millimetres in diameter, inside a marshmallow. Police later determined that the magnets had fallen into the sweet accidentally and found no evidence of intentional tampering there.
What parents are being advised to do
Authorities have urged parents to inspect all Halloween sweets before children eat them, to keep any suspicious item and its packaging intact, not to remove the object, and to contact local police so the item can be preserved for forensic checks.
Similar reports have surfaced in Germany in previous years — a mother in Kiel found razor blades among her child’s Halloween sweets in 2025, and a chocolate bar containing nails was discovered in Bavaria in 2024 — but police have not said the current cases are linked to each other or to earlier incidents.
What is not yet known
No suspects have been identified in any of the current investigations, and police have not said whether the cases across different states are connected. Until investigations conclude, the key confirmed facts are the locations and types of objects reported, the police assessment that most appear to have been placed deliberately, the absence of confirmed injuries so far, and the one Appenheim case ruled accidental.
FAQ
Were any children injured by the metal objects in Germany’s Halloween sweets? No injuries had been confirmed as of 1–2 November reporting, including children who bit into sweets containing a needle or a nail.
Has anyone been arrested? No suspects had been identified as of 2 November, and police have not said whether cases in different states are linked.
What should parents do with suspicious sweets? Police advise inspecting all treats, keeping the item and packaging intact, not removing the object, and contacting local police.
Sources
- AFP via The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/nails-screws-needles-found-in-some-halloween-treats-in-germany
- DW via Webdunia: https://english.webdunia.com/article/deutsche-welle-news/german-police-investigating-after-needles-found-in-halloween-candy-126110200007_1.html
- DW via LB.ua: https://en.lb.ua/news/2026/11/02/47714_needles_found_halloween_sweets.html
- Vietnam.vn roundup: https://www.vietnam.vn/en/loat-quoc-gia-phat-hien-kim-khau-dinh-sat-trong-keo-halloween-cua-tre-em
- Newsworm: https://www.newsworm.de/news/needles-and-nails-found-in-halloween-sweets-in-germany
