TENTATIVE links have been made to fake ecstasy tablets in two out of the eight recent deaths linked to drugs, health minister Edwin Poots has said.
Mr Poots was speaking after a meeting with senior police officers and drug addiction charities at Stormont following the high-profile deaths of the men and women - all in their 20s and 30s and from greater Belfast and Coleraine - over recent weeks.
He has been critical of the police, claiming officers may be turning a blind eye to protect informants - an allegation strenuously denied by the PSNI.
Yesterday, he emerged from the meeting to say that two of the deaths "may" be linked to pills stamped with a crown symbol and known as 'green Rolexes'.
Similar tablets have been linked to the deaths of seven young people in Scotland over the past two months.
Recent press reports put the overall total across the UK at 20.
A batch of fake ecstasy, known as Dr Death, killed five young people in Merseyside and Derbyshire in England.
Police warned 80,000 fans heading for this weekend's T in the Park music festival near Perth to beware of the green pills.
Superintendant Grahame Clarke from Police Scotland said: "The exact contents of the pills are unknown but they could contain dangerous chemicals and users need to be aware of the dangers and understand the devastating effect they can have."
They also warned of a white pill with the Mitsubishi logo imprinted on it, found to contain other chemicals, and a yellow tablet with a star logo.
Fake ecstasy pills were recovered from a house in Aberdeen on Wednesday.
Mr Poots said other drugs were being examined in the investigations into the other six deaths in Northern Ireland.
Seven of the deaths took place in the greater Belfast area - the majority in the east of the city. The eighth person died in Coleraine.
Police reiterated yesterday that it "is still too early to make firm determinations about the causes of these deaths".
Mr Poots said the police needed the public's help to bring drug dealers to justice.
The alert began on 28 June, when the police and health authorities issued a warning about the green pills and revealed the eight deaths.
Similar green pills seized in Britain were found to contain the toxic chemicals PMA and PMMA, as well as ecstasy.
Police in Scotland are also investigating the deaths of a number of young people who may have taken the pills.
However, the causes of the deaths of the eight people in Northern Ireland have not been confirmed and detectives are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests.