X-Ray Scan Uncovers Boy Smuggled in a Suitcase, Spanish Authorities Say
See why he was stuffed in the bag.
— -- Spanish police found an 8-year-old boy hidden inside a small suitcase by a 19-year-old woman who had allegedly tried to smuggle him into Spain on Thursday, authorities told ABC News.
The little boy, who ABC News is not identifying, was born in Ivory Coast and detected by scanners by customs in Ceuta, a small Spanish territory in North Africa.
A police spokesman said the boy was scared when they opened the suitcase but had not been harmed.
The Moroccan woman who hid him was taken into custody, authorities said.
Less than two hours after finding the boy, police located his father who had been living in the Canary Islands.
Spanish newspaper, El Pais, reported that the woman had been paid by the father to carry the suitcase, but she was not related to him.
Despite building a 20-foot high fence, Spain has been struggling in recent years with the influx of immigrants in Ceuta, and another enclave called Melilla.
According to official statistics, over 4,300 people entered the two enclaves irregularly in 2013, compared with 2,804 in 2012.