A BOY stole two cans of butane from his neighbor and sniffed the substance at a farm in Chalan Laulau on Friday afternoon, police said.
The boy, whose age was not indicated in the report, was charged for theft and turned over to a juvenile detective at the Department of Public Safety.
DPS spokesman Pete C. Muna said it was the 51-year-old grandmother of the boy who called the police.
Muna said investigation showed that the grandmother was walking through a patch of banana trees to bring some food to her sister.
The grandmother saw her grandson sitting under a banana tree with his face over his shirt. She noticed a can of butane gas under the boy’s shirt and another empty butane gas can near him.
The grandmother took the butane cans and the boy to the house where she then contacted the police.
Muna said the responding police officer observed that the boy’s eyes were red and the child appeared dazed.
The boy told the officer that his grandmother caught him sniffing butane. The boy also admitted inhaling two cans of butane he had stolen from a neighbor, police said.
Last June 13, a 14-year-old boy was caught sniffing butane behind the former Happy Market Building in San Jose.
Over the past two months, many juveniles were caught sniffing butane on Saipan. A few years ago, a child died after inhaling butane.
