THREE ARE HELD AFTER HEROIN USER DIES

THREE men were being questioned yesterday over the death of a heroin
user who may have died from a mystery illness that has claimed the
lives of 36 people.

The death of Derek Anderson, 45, is the third in a week in the
Wolverhampton area to be connected with the contaminated heroin that
has killed 16 users in Glasgow and eight in Dublin.

The NHS Executive North-West said last week it had identified nine
cases of the illness in Liverpool and Manchester over the past month.
Five of them had died.

Toxicologists' reports have yet to be completed on the three West
Midlands deaths but Superintendent John Colston said there was a
"strong suggestion" that all three of cases were linked.

"We are warning those individuals who feel that they have to use
heroin that there is now adulterated heroin being sold in the Midlands
and people are playing with their lives," Mr Colston said.

West Midlands police have arrested two men on suspicion of murder and
one on suspicion of supplying the drug to Mr Anderson. Police were
looking for a fourth person.

Officials suspect that the illness is caused by a bacteria that can
survive without oxygen and causes botulism. British and American
laboratories are carrying out tests to discover more about the illness.

The deaths are caused when the user injects the drug into muscle
rather than a vein.