A man and a woman have been taken into custody following the discovery of two young children alone and in tears alongside a road in southern Portugal.
According to local reports, the duo were identified as the mother and stepfather of the two French boys, both under the age of five. The children were found near the town of Alcacer do Sal by a passing driver on Tuesday, lacking any form of identification but carrying backpacks containing food and water.
The father of the missing children from Colmar, France, had reported their disappearance on May 11, prompting a cross-border search effort by French authorities.
Authorities in Portugal and France are jointly investigating the circumstances that led to the children being found unaccompanied by the roadside, with no definitive conclusions reached as of yet.
The couple was apprehended when their vehicle was spotted outside a café in Fatima, approximately 180km north of the location where the children were discovered. The National Republican Guard of Portugal confirmed the arrest of a 41-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man, without disclosing their identities, on charges of domestic violence, endangerment, and abandonment.
The driver who encountered the children first provided them with food before contacting law enforcement.
For quick access to your preferred news, designate Daily Mirror as a ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News.
