MADRID: Police found an 8-year-old boy hidden in a suitcase that was smuggled across the border into Spanish territory in North Africa, an official said.
A 19-year-old woman took the case through a pedestrian crossing from Morocco into the small Spanish-governed territory of Ceuta, a spokesman for the Civil Guard police force said.
The boy said he was from Ivory Coast, according to the spokesman.
The Civil Guard arrested the woman, who was due to go before a judge. They also arrested the boy’s father when he tried to cross the border a few hours later. The father is Ivorian and lives in Spain’s Canary Islands.
Thousands of migrants each year risk their lives trying to enter Ceuta and another Spanish territory bordering Morocco, Melilla, in search of a better life in Europe.
Many Africans try to scramble over the 23-foot fences that separate the Spanish cities from Morocco.
Others smuggle themselves over the border hidden in vehicles and cargoes or try to swim or sail from shores on the Moroccan side.
Earlier this week, a 23-year-old Moroccan was found in a shipping container in the port of Melilla.
He was dehydrated after four days without food or water since the container was left unattended over the May holiday weekend.
