A criminal inquiry has been launched into suspected tampering after a battery was found inside a chocolate Easter bunny.

Co-op initiated a UK-wide recall after The Nottingham Post reported a single-cell battery had been found inside one of the hollow milk chocolate bunnies

Over 3,000 of the £1 bunnies have been sold.

The National Crime Agency and police forces are assisting with the investigation, the supermarket said.

Tammy-Louise Dundon told the paper her daughter found a single-cell battery inside the bunny.

She said: "My daughter bit the ears off and shouted 'what's this?'

"I was just like 'oh my God'. How much damage do these batteries do? I've heard kids have died from eating them. They can get stuck in the oesophagus or can be corrosive."

A spokesman for the Co-op said: "The health and safety of our customers is uppermost in our minds.

"We are concerned about one incident of alleged product tampering involving our hollow milk chocolate Easter bunny foil figure, which has been found to contain a small battery inside.

"This follows an incident at Christmas when two similar products were targeted and contaminated."

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Customers are being urged to return the bunnies to stores for a full refund.

In December, the retailer also recalled 165,000 chocolate Santas after two customers found batteries inside of them.

The working assumption was that someone “deliberately” placed the batteries inside the hollow chocolate treat, a spokesperson for Co-op told The Independent at the time.