Five officers have been taken to hospital after a man in their custody died after ingesting a highly lethal poison during a police raid on his home.
Police arrested the 27-year-old man at a home in Kyneton in the Macedon Ranges, about 86 kilometres northwest of Melbourne on Tuesday.
They called for medical assistance and began performing CPR after the man “became unwell and unresponsive.”
The man died at the scene, despite the efforts of emergency services to revive him.
Five officers who were inside the home at the time were not injured but were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
A forensic analysis of the substance ingested by the man is being carried out.
Police sources have since said the man ingested sodium cyanide. Age reported.
The man’s devastated family is now demanding answers about what happened during the arrest, Nine News reported.
Police officers from Fice were rushed to hospital after a suspect allegedly ingested sodium cyanide, a lethal substance, during a house raid in Kyneton, Victoria, on Tuesday.
Police are investigating the substance and have declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
Officers were called to the home as part of an ongoing investigation, which a Victoria Police spokeswoman declined to comment on.
As the man died in police custody, the professional standards command and the homicide squad have launched investigations into the man’s death.
Sodium cyanide is primarily used for industrial purposes, especially in the gold mining industry, and a 2010 government assessment found it was also used in metal cleaning, research and pest control.
Chemistry It has since been widely banned and is not registered by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority for agricultural or veterinary use.
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