An 18-year-old woman has died from a suspected drug overdose in Leeds, marking the second such death in the city over the bank holiday weekend. West Yorkshire police said the teenager collapsed at the Warehouse club in the city centre in the early hours of Monday and was taken to hospital, where she died shortly after 3.18am.
A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs and remained in police custody on Monday. Detective Inspector Amanda Wimbles of Leeds CID urged people to think twice before taking illegal substances, stating they are 'incredibly dangerous'.
The death comes just 48 hours after a 17-year-old girl died from a suspected drug overdose at Leeds festival, where potentially lethal ecstasy pills were being sold. Police said the teenager, from Oldham, had taken 'a combination of drugs' and died at the Bramham Park site shortly after 3.40am on Saturday. A 17-year-old boy from the Oldham area was arrested on suspicion of supplying controlled drugs and later released under investigation.
Police had issued a warning about 'very dangerous, high strength' pills called Donkey Kong, Trump and Skype at Leeds festival, which contained up to three times the normal average adult dose. Organisers of the Creamfields dance music festival issued a similar warning on Sunday about extremely potent MDMA tablets.
Experts have called for increased testing at festivals after research found that many drugs contained other harmful ingredients, such as an MDMA pill that was actually n-ethylpentylone, a long-lasting cathinone that can cause anxiety, paranoia, insomnia and psychosis.
