MELAKA: A three-year-old girl is believed to have tested positive for drugs after consuming sweets suspected to contain narcotic substances, says Deputy Comm Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar.
The Melaka police chief said initial investigations found that the sweets were purchased by a 39-year-old social media influencer with nearly 600,000 online followers.
"The suspect claimed he had bought the sweets from a neighbouring country before storing them in a refrigerator at his mother’s house. The mother is also the caregiver of the child.
"The child, who is fond of sweets, consumed them before she became losing consciousness and was then rushed to hospital," he said in a statement here on Thursday (April 23).
DCP Dzulkhairi said the sweets in question were not found during the police inspection.
Media reports on Wednesday (April 22) said that the suspect had been remanded to assist in investigations after the child was confirmed to have tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a main psychoactive compound found in cannabis.
DCP Dzulkhairi said the matter came to light on April 14 after a medical officer at Hospital Melaka received the child in a semi-conscious state.
"The victim’s mother informed medical officers that her daughter had earlier been under the care of her mother-in-law at a home in Sungai Putat here.
“The child has since recovered and was allowed to return home,” he said.
Following the incident, a team from the D11 Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division of the Melaka police arrested the suspect at about 9.30pm on April 15.
The suspect has no prior criminal record and a urine screening test conducted on him returned negative for drugs.
