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

The pair have been remanded in custody by a judge in Spain.

The child is in good health and has been sent to a reception centre for minors in Spain before being returned to France.
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