A shocking case of child abandonment has led to the arrest of two young French boys’ mother and stepfather, after the pair of children under five were discovered alone, crying, on the side of a rural highway in southern Portugal, law enforcement officials confirmed.
The children were located on Tuesday by a passing motorist close to the small town of Alcacer do Sal, according to Portuguese police. When they were found, the boys carried only small backpacks stocked with basic food and water, but no papers that could confirm their identities or connect them to their family.
The boys’ biological father had already filed a missing person report for his sons at their home in Colmar, eastern France, on May 11. Following the report, French authorities issued an international public appeal for assistance across the entire European Union to locate the missing children.
After a multi-jurisdiction search coordinated between law enforcement on both sides of the border, the suspect couple was tracked down and apprehended. Local Portuguese media reports indicate the pair was located after their vehicle was spotted parked outside a local cafe in Fatima, a popular pilgrimage city located roughly 180 kilometers north of where the children were found.
Portugal’s National Republican Guard confirmed in an official statement that officers took a 41-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man into custody. Authorities have not released the formal identities of the two arrested people, per standard investigative protocol. The pair are currently under investigation on three separate criminal charges: domestic violence, child endangerment, and child abandonment.
The good Samaritan driver who found the boys told reporters he first gave the hungry children food and comfort before contacting emergency services to notify police of the discovery.
Inquiries are now ongoing jointly between Portuguese and French law enforcement teams. Officials from both agencies noted that they have not yet reached any final conclusions about the case, and investigations are continuing to unfold. It remains unclear at this stage why the children were left on the roadside or what circumstances led to their disappearance from France.