BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Police in Buffalo, N.Y., say it wasn't candy a 5-year-old boy was handing out at a day care center -- it was heroin.

Some children apparently swallowed some of the drug, but no one was seriously hurt. Six children were rushed to a hospital and later released.

Police said the boy gave small packets of heroin to his sisters and friends Tuesday morning, thinking it was candy.

His parents said he must have found the drug as his mother walked him and his two sisters to day care.

"It was all wrapped up in waxed paper and they had smile faces stamped on them like these M&Ms," the child's father, Wayne Clamp said.

He said he was shown the packets of heroin by police after it was confiscated.

The parents insist the heroin didn't come from their house.

"He didn't think it was something bad," Clamp said. "He said it smelled like bread crumbs."

Their children were taken into protective custody pending a July 11 court date. And state officials have suspended operations at the day care center while they investigate.