A three-year-old boy was found alone in an apartment in Dublin’s north inner city last week during a Garda raid in which cannabis worth €15,000 was seized. The toddler was discovered at 10.30pm on Tuesday after gardai had to break down a front door to gain entry to the apartment on East Wall. An initial search for the boy’s parents, a young Latvian couple, was unsuccessful so he was taken into care.

Gardai may charge his parents with abandonment. The offence carries a jail sentence, but prosecutors have to prove that a parent deliberately abandoned their child.

The Latvian couple was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking after telephoning gardai the following day to give themselves up.

When questioned by officers, they said they had left home during a heated argument and each thought the child was being cared for by the other.

Gardai privately believe that the couple left the infant on his own after a neighbour tipped them off to the raid. Officers waited several hours at the apartment for the couple to return home.

The boy’s father has been charged with possession of cannabis and remanded in custody.

His wife has been asked not to leave Ireland pending the outcome of an investigation.

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