Outrage over picture of three-year-old boy allegedly 'snorting cocaine'

Facebook users were shocked when a photo of a three-year-old boy, seemingly snorting cocaine, was uploaded  onto the social media platform with the following caption:

"Mum and dad’s little junkie".

The boy looked directly into the camera, ready to sniff a white, powdery substance. Social media users demanded that the child should be taken into care.

However the family, from the small village of Sindel in eastern Bulgaria’s Varna Province, assured users it was just a joke. Nadezhda Nuri, the boy’s mother, told local media that the substance was not cocaine, but instead was simply flour.

The child and his mother Mrs Nuri

According to Daily Record, She claims that the image was taken as a joke but then uploaded onto social media by her 13-year-old daughter.

Mrs Nuri said: "My mother first saw the [picture of the] children and called me. I couldn’t have done such a thing, I don’t even know how to write.My daughter must have taken the photo and uploaded it online. I can't do it because I can't even read or write, never mind use a computer."

Her daughter, who uploaded the photo, says the family joke around with taking photos like the controversial image often.

She said: "I was only joking, I got the idea from Facebook."I have never seen real drugs. I once saw a woman on Facebook making lines with flour and then snorting it." 

According to local reports, child services are investigating the incident