A mother who left her 16-month-old son locked in a metal cage has been seized by police carrying out a drug raid in the same apartment block.

Shocked officers found the tot in a flat next to the target address in Haifa, Israel, on 15th January.

He had been shut in what appears to be an animal cage measuring just half a metre by half a metre with only a bottle of milk, a soft toy, and some cushions.

Police also found his five siblings – aged three months to nine years – inside the flat, but their mother, 35, was absent.

An Israel Police spokesperson said: “She was brought to the scene, then arrested by detectives for false imprisonment, neglect and abuse of a helpless minor.”

Bizarrely, she tried to explain her actions saying “this is her way of looking after him”, Corporal Yossi Atias told local media.

At the time of reporting, it was unclear where the children’s father was.

Welfare officers from Haifa Municipality arrived on the scene to take care of the children before handing them to their grandparents.

Police seized two men, 22 and 27, in a different flat in the same building after finding what they believe to be commercial quantities of crystal methamphetamine and hashish.

At the time of reporting, police had said they would ask Haifa Magistrate Court to extend the all three suspects’ custody.