{"id":114857,"date":"2015-05-09T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=114857"},"modified":"2015-05-09T08:20:51","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T08:20:51","slug":"x-ray-scan-reveals-boy-in-suitcase-being-smuggled-into-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/x-ray-scan-reveals-boy-in-suitcase-being-smuggled-into-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"X-ray scan reveals boy in suitcase being smuggled into Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
An eight-year-old Ivorian child was found hidden in a suitcase that was smuggled across the border into Spanish territory in North Africa, an official said on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The child was in a case taken by a 19-year-old woman through a pedestrian crossing from Morocco into the small Spanish-governed territory of Ceuta on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMy name is Abou,\u201d the boy said immediately in French when civil guards asked the Moroccan woman to open the wheeled suitcase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
She had aroused suspicion at the Tarajal crossing into the Spanish north African enclave as she seemed uncertain on her approach to the pedestrian checkpoint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The guards ordered her to place the suitcase on the scanner and the screen operator saw the unmistakable outline of a human form inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could have ended in tragedy,\u201d the civil guard said, considering that the child may have spent considerable time zipped up inside the case.<\/p>\n
The boy was checked by a medical team and is now in the hands of child-protection authorities in Ceuta. They will attempt to identify him and ascertain his family connections.<\/p>\n
Later that day a 42-year-old man from Ivory Coast was detained at the same post. Although the man had Spanish residency papers issued in the Canary Islands, the civil guards asked about his family and showed him a photograph taken of Abou in the suitcase.<\/p>\n
The civil guard said the man confessed to trying to have his son smuggled into Spain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to take him to the Canaries with me,\u201d the man, identified only as A.O., is reported to have said.<\/p>\n
A.O. was arrested and is due to testify before a judge on suspicion of human trafficking.<\/p>\n
The Moroccan woman, identified as F.E.Y., was also arrested.<\/p>\n