A mother has been stunned to open her six-year-old’s school bag and find a popular toy egg container, usually known to contain puzzles or small trinkets, filled with two bags of what police suspect is methamphetamine.
Crystal Hill wrote a public Facebook post urging others to share her story in the hopes that parents become aware of this potential danger to their children.
The drugs Crystal Hill's son found. Via Facebook.
She wrote:
"I was cleaning out Jonahs room (aged 6 ) on friday and inside his old school bag pocket he uses for play i found a kinder surprise container. I opened it and found 2 little packets with what looked like big chuncky salt crystals.
She said at first she was “shocked” and she showed her husband when he got home from work.
“He too was of course shocked!”
“After school we got the kids together and asked where it came from. Jonah has an amazing memory and recalled finding it in the gutter at a local second hand store ( weeks ago )....innocently he assumed it fell out of the car (with the amount of crap they stash i the back seat it was a highly likely scenario) he then just popped in his pocket.”
Crystal and Dan Hill and their children. Via Facebook.
She continues:” Fortunately and thank God he didn’t taste what he assumed was just salt Crystals.”
The family took the bags to their local police station where they said officers praised Jonah for his actions.
“We took it to the police station who congratulated Jonah on the fact he didn't eat it and he and Kyah scored some stickers :) filling out the form was a bit funny when they asked if we would like to claim our item if no ones else does haha Dans reply was "so you can arrest us when we walk out of the place?"
Crystal said she was sharing the post to encourage others to discuss drugs with their children.
“This may be a good time to discuss this stuff with your youngens... i thought we had already covered this subject as they clearly know about no touching needles or pills but salt like crystals (meth) was new to us!! “
Her post has received a massive number of comments and shares, some saying they had seen similar “eggs” around the suburbs.
Crystal wrote that she was” slightly hesitant sharing on a public arena with some people out there that like to be nasty but if this situation can teach others i think its worth any possible negative comments. (Already had one thinking its suspicious)."
But most parents thanked them for the awareness.
“I showed this pic to my 6year old and asked her what she would do if she found it. She said eat it, thinking it was like the salt crystals. Glad this prompted a safety conversation.
Crystal's son found these drugs. Via Facebook.
Dan wrote on Facebook that he and his wife had told Jonah what was in the packets and the revelations shocked him.
“He didn't know that what he had could kill him, which is our fault.” Mr Hill wrote on Facebook
“We've talked about drugs but as far as he knew he had two bags of salt. So so lucky he didn't eat them or we would have lost him without doubt. He was a total mess when we told him what it was, he had no idea. Hoping other parents have the talk and keep our kids safe as this stuff is everywhere and isn't going away.”
It’s not the first time this has happened. In June a five-year-old boy was shocked to find a kinder surprise plastic egg he found contained drugs instead of toys.
According to The Daily Star, the five-year-old was with his eight-year-old brother when he spotted the familiar yellow plastic egg in a hedge.
The boy and his brother, from Belfast handed the drugs to their family who notified police. Limavady DUP councillor Alan Robinson said:
"When the child opened the plastic section, hidden within was a small sealed plastic bag containing a white powder.
"Having passed the contents to the police the family have told me that they have informed them that it contained an illegal drug."
He added: "As a father of a child, I know how enticing Kinder eggs and their contents are to children.
"In this instance the children are to be commended for passing the contents to their parent
Dan is urging parents to share his wife's post:“The more parents that see this the better." Via Facebook.
Dan and Crystal, also realising how lucky they were, praised the police for their professionalism:
“The police were wonderful and handled it brilliantly and so good to our kids. “
They begged others to share their post
“Please share” Dan wrote.
“The more parents that see this the better. This could have turned out so much worse. We are so very lucky. We just want to keep kids safe as this stuff is everywhere and it's not going away”