Child finds 'cocaine' in cinema toilets
Friday, 9.10am - HARD drugs were found by a 10-year-old child during a family trip to the Reel Cinema on Bank Holiday Monday.
Friday, 9.10am - HARD drugs were found by a 10-year-old child during a family trip to the Reel Cinema on Bank Holiday Monday.Jonathan Reichelt, 36, of Stamford Street, took his son Toby to the Reel Cinema in St. Catherine's Road for a 1.30pm show.
Jonathan said: "We were queuing up for a ticket to Wolverine when Toby went to the toilet.
"I started getting worried because he had been in there a while, then he came back with a plastic packet in his hand and said, 'Dad, I've just found this in the toilets. Is it cocaine, dad?'
Jonathan was shocked by the discovery and handed the drugs to a member of staff who informed police immediately.
Police have sent the substance away for testing but it is believed to be either cocaine or speed.
A spokesman for the police said: "The cinema staff alerted police straight away.
"The bag contained a white powdered substance believed to be a class A or B drug.
"Obviously this is a family entertainment venue and children are present. It is very worrying when a ten-year-old comes into possession of drugs like this."
Jonathan had only recently started to let his son do things on his own but the experience has made him worry.
He said: "What if a child had picked it up and thought it was sherbet? Or what if he had walked in to find someone taking drugs?
"It was a 12A film so there were a lot of children there but fortunately we have been trying to make Toby more responsible and he came through with flying colours by doing the right thing.
"Afterwards I had to have quite a frank discussion with him about drugs, which I shouldn't have to do at 10-years-old."
Bosses at the cinema say they will carry out more checks on toilets in the future to prevent this from happening again.
Reel Cinema operations manager, Muhammad Faisal, said: "As soon as we knew about the problem we reported it straight to the police. It is a very isolated incident and we have never faced this kind of incident before.
"Reel Cinema is a family orientated cinema and we take incidents like this very, very seriously and due to that reason we will be increasing the amount of checks we carry out every day to make sure nothing like this will happen again."
Any information to police on 01476 402222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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Sunday 01 August 2010
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