Mid-teen caught driving on the highway

A boy in his mid teen years was caught driving on the highway Thursday night, with police discovering a number of items including a fist-load weapon.

According to Famagusta district police, traffic officers on Thursday night flagged a vehicle driven by a 15-year-old local male along the Rizoelia-Ayia Napa highway just before the Xylofagou exit.

During an inspection of the vehicle, officers found a set of brass knuckles, a collapsible steel baton, seven balloons and two canisters with used small bulbs, as well as three unused bulbs.

Police did not say whether the case involved nitrous oxide known as laughing gas. The colourless and sweet tasting gas can be used lawfully in the dentistry profession and food industry but also distributed unlawfully as a recreational drug. 

Some youths are known to inhale the drug from balloons or small bulbs in a low dose in order to reach short-lasting euphoria while the drug also heightens the senses.

While laughing gas is considered to be a low-toxicity drug, it can cause dizziness with potential serious consequences such as falling and injury.

Police told Knews the incident was based on a routine traffic stop. The young driver was not detained while police did not indicate whether the vehicle had been speeding on the highway.