Child cocaine exposure case goes forward

A mother of young twins who reportedly tested positive for controlled substances is no longer a suspect, but Limassol police are charging her husband with multiple offences in an unusual case of pediatric exposure to cocaine.

Police say a Russian couple residing in Limassol with their two young children is back home after the husband and wife were released from custody following their separate arrests in connection with what has been reported initially as kids exposed to cocaine.

The case made headlines late last month after the couple took their children to a chemical lab in Limassol to have them tested for traces of controlled substances.

Some days after the drug screen test results, which reportedly found one child had tested positive for cocaine, local media said the lab contacted police and officers detained the father while also issuing an arrest warrant for the mother, who had left the country for a trip abroad.

Mother wanted kids tested after behavior change

An attorney for the mother says she left temporarily with her kids for safety reasons, adding that she was the one who wanted the kids tested in the first place after observing behavioral changes.

The father, who was identified in local media as a cocaine user, was further remanded in custody but a district judge later ordered his release after prosecutors filed a court case against him on multiple charges, including drug possession, drug distribution, child endangerment through reckless behavior, and negligent parenting.

He is purported to have admitted using drugs at home for himself and told investigators that his child may have been exposed to cocaine by accident after the substance was left unattended on a table in another room.

Additional reports this week said the second child also got tested for cocaine, with police telling Knews a urine test came back positive but failing to clarify when the sample had been taken.

Kathimerini Cyprus on Friday cited a state lab report that indicated the second child also tested positive. Initial reports in local media said both twins went to the private lab to get tested on the same day in May but police did not rule out the possibility that additional tests might have taken place in the course of an investigation. 

Local media on Friday said the mother, who was initially arrested and then remanded in custody for another day but quickly released, could be called to testify for the prosecution during her husband’s trial set to begin July 2. 

Police declined to comment on the source of the original complaint but told Knews the mother was no longer a suspect in the case.

“Initial suspicions against the female suspect regarding her children being exposed to cocaine could not be substantiated,” a police communications officer told Knews on Friday.

Knews has also learned that the parents never notified the police on their own, with media reports suggesting the lab took the initiative to contact law enforcement with their findings.

A cocaine screen, a test that can be done on urine, saliva, blood, hair, or sweat, can show whether a person has used cocaine recently.

Experts say cocaine can show up in the most unexpected places, including hospitals and health care facilities where cocaine metabolite in the urine can be found even in toddlers and young children. Some also suspect

Researchers also suggest second-hand smoke, inhaled when adult caretakers use freebase or crack cocaine, could also be the most likely route of exposure.