Mother arrested after two French boys found abandoned in Portugal, police say

Published connected 21/05/2026 - 8:08 GMT+2•Updated 20:15

Portuguese constabulary arrested the parent of 2 young French boys connected Thursday who were recovered abandoned by a main roadworthy successful the southbound of the country, unsocial and crying.

The boys, aged 4 and five, were rescued connected Tuesday by a passing motorist adjacent the edifice municipality of Comporta, wherever they had been near with backpacks containing nutrient and h2o but nary individuality documents, according to Portuguese media.

A manhunt was launched for the boys' parent and connected Thursday, Portuguese constabulary said they had arrested her successful the cardinal municipality of Fatima, on with a 55-year-old man, connected suspicion of abuse, endangerment and abandonment.

The boys were reported missing from their hometown of Colmar, successful eastbound France, by their begetter astir 10 days ago.

After uncovering the children, motorist Alexandre Quintas took them to a bakery tally by his household earlier alerting the authorities.

"We asked them if they liked crystal cream," Quintas told the online outlet Observador.

"And we gave them thing to devour and immoderate toys to support them occupied."

His parent Eugenia Quintas said a section doc who spoke French had enabled them to speech to the 2 boys.

"They said they had arrived by car and got retired successful a bushy place, a forest, arsenic the older 1 called it," she told the AFP quality agency.

She said 1 of the boys said they had been blindfolded and told to look for a hidden artifact and erstwhile they took their blindfolds off, their parent and her car were gone.

"On them they had an orange, a pear and a vessel of h2o each. We didn't spot immoderate signs of mistreatment," she said.

French authoritative Jean Richert said the woman's household had reported her missing connected 11 May and a judicial enquiry had been launched to analyse the circumstances.

"What was astonishing was that she wasn't astatine home, had nary crushed not to beryllium there, and hadn't informed anyone," helium told AFP.

The begetter of the boys, who is separated from the mother, "like everyone else, helium doesn't understand," said Richert.

The Portuguese lawyer general's bureau told AFP a tribunal was investigating alongside the constabulary inquiry, adding: "The children were taken to hospital, wherever they are nether observation."