SUNGAI PETANI: The three-year-old boy, who appeared in a viral video allegedly being forced to inhale 'syabu' via a meth pipe, has been found safe and sound.
Medical tests also showed that the child was free of any traces of drugs.
The boy’s mother was arrested when she turned herself in at the Kuala Muda police headquarters at 1.30pm today.
However, the woman denied that her son had been forced to take meth. She said the meth pipe the boy was holding in the video, was empty.
The video, she said, was recorded by her boyfriend.
State Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Mior Farid Al Athrash Wahid said the woman told the police that she did so in order to hurt the feelings of her ex-husband.
“Both the woman and her son were referred to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital to have their blood samples taken for analysis," he said in a statement today.
However Mior Farid said the woman, who has a record for a drugs-related offence and possession of a dangerous weapon, was not remanded as she is eight months pregnant.
Police also later confirmed that urine tests done on the boy tested negative for drug use.
The boy will be kept in the children’s ward for further observation.
Earlier today, NST Online had highlighted how Kedah police were tracking down the woman, after fears that her son had been forced to consume syabu, based on the video.
Videos of the boy had gone viral, prompting the child’s paternal grandmother to lodge a police report on the matter yesterday evening.
The boy's grandmother, 53, from Gurun, lodged the police report after she was shown the video clips by one of her grandchildren.
One of the videos, a 16-second clip, showed the boy sitting at the back seat of a car, holding the meth pipe. A stack of RM50 and RM10 notes is strewn on his lap.
His mother's boyfriend can be heard talking to the boy.
In the video, a man can be heard asking the child in Tamil, “Are you already high?
“Is it nice? If it’s nice, you must ask for this next time, okay?
“Are you feeling high? Good, stay that way," the man is heard saying.
The video caused an uproar among netizens, who urged police to take action and save the boy.