Boy found in suitcase in failed smuggle attempt to Spain through Morocco

8-year-old hidden for hours, discovered when suitcase put through scanner.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

MAY 9, 2015 10:59

African migrants sit at the top of a border fence between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave. (photo credit: REUTERS) — African migrants sit at the top of a border fence between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave.

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Police authorities discovered an 8-year-old boy hidden in a suitcase in a smuggling attempt across the Moroccan border into Spanish territory, AFP reported Friday.

The boy, of Ivory Coast origin, was hauled in a suitcase by a 19-year-old woman who sought to smuggle him into Ceuta, a small Spanish-governed territory in North Africa, according to the report.

A police spokesman said that suspicion rose when the suitcase was put through a scanner, at which point the operator "noticed something strange."

"When it was opened, they found a minor in a terrible state," he told AFP.

The police detained the 19-year-old woman who attempted to smuggle the boy.

Later that day, the boy's father, an Ivorian residing in Spain's Canary Islands, was also arrested at the border crossing.