French couple who planned to ‘sacrifice’ their ‘possessed’ 5-year-old son arrested in Spain

Spanish authorities on Saturday said they had arrested a French couple earlier in December for planning to “sacrifice” in the Sahara their five-year-old son, who they believed to be “possessed”.

The couple were arrested on December 21 in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, as the family was about to board a ferry to the Moroccan city of Tangiers.

The Guardia Civil police force said in a statement they had arrested a “couple of French origin” who “intended to murder their five-year-old son in the Sahara, believing him to be possessed”.

Both parents had “psychiatric problems” and were the subject of a European arrest warrant for the abduction of a minor, the Guardia Civil added.