British authorities announced an investigation Friday into the deaths of 88 people who purchased products from Canada-based websites. These websites are allegedly offering lethal substances to people at risk of self harm.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed that suicide kits purchased from these websites and sent from Canada are connected to each death.

Kenneth Law, a resident of the Toronto region, was apprehended in Canada earlier this year. Law now faces two charges of counseling and aiding suicide.

Canadian officials offered an overview of the operation, suggesting that Law utilized a range of websites to advertise and distribute sodium nitrite. While this substance is typically employed to preserve meats, its consumption can have fatal consequences.

There’s a broad scope to Law’s alleged enterprise. He’s suspected of dispatching upwards of 1,200 packages, which found their way to over 40 countries. This has led other nations, including the U.S., Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, to initiate their own inquiries into the matter.

From the data collected so far, the NCA has determined that within a span of two years leading up to this April, 232 people in the U.K. ordered products from Law’s websites.

Disturbingly, 88 of these individuals are no longer alive. However, the NCA, in its commitment to a thorough and unbiased investigation, clarified, “at this early stage there are no confirmed links between the items purchased from the websites and cause of death in any of these cases.”

Expressing genuine concern, NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner stated to CBS News, “Our deepest sympathies are with the loved ones of those who have died. They are being supported by specially trained officers from police forces.”

Suicides remain a somber global issue. Official statistics from the U.K. government revealed that in 2021, England and Wales recorded 5,583 suicides, amounting to a rate of 10.7 deaths per 100,000 individuals.

Furthermore, a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that almost 50,000 Americans took their own lives last year. The World Health Organization’s estimate places the worldwide number at over 700,000 suicides annually.

With suicide rates at arguably crisis levels, the hope is that the international community will take proactive measures to protect their citizens from similar threats in the future.