CEBU CITY – Seven persons were arrested when agents of the National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI 7) dismantled two suspected drug dens here.

What shocked the NBI 7 agents was the information that a woman behind one of the suspected drug dens allowed her two-year-old son to use shabu.

The woman, who was the subject of the operation held last June 24 in Barangay Punta Princessa, was able to elude arrest.

Some neighbors told the NBI 7 that every time the boy cries, the woman would give her son a tooter, a drug-sniffing paraphernalia, and made him believe that it was a lollipop.

"This is very alarming. Imagine handing over a tooter to the child. We are contemplating also on filing child abuse aside from illegal drug charges," said Oliva.

After receiving the information that the woman allowed her son to use illegal drugs, the NBI 7 coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the rescue of the boy.

Aside from the two-year-old boy, the woman also has an eight-month kid living in the house that was used as a drug den.

“The two kids were exposed to risk. When it (illegal drugs) is induced by someone at a tender age, that is very risky,” said Oliva.

In another operation in Barangay Mambaling, NBI 7 agents arrested a couple on suspicion that they maintained a drug den.

The couple was also accused of using their 16-year-old son to distribute illegal drugs.

Oliva said the children rescued in the separate operations had been turned over to social workers for proper interventions.