The parents of two young boys found wandering alone down a rustic path lots of of miles away from home have been arrested.
The siblings were crying for his or her father when police found them between the favored seaside resort towns of Alcácer do Sal and Comporta in Portugal.
The French brothers told authorities their mother, 41-year-old Marine, and stepfather Marc had driven them to distant woodland and told them they were going to play a game to ‘drive away the devil.’
Blindfolding the boys, they told them that they may only remove their eye covers once they’d found a knife they’d buried within the soil.
The elder brother dug across the dirt attempting to follow their instructions before finally removing each their blindfolds, only to grasp they’d been left within the woods.
Police said they arrested Marine Rousseau, 41, and Marc Ballabriga, 55, on suspicion of domestic violence and child abuse on Wednesday.
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The 2 were travelling in a automotive with French license plates, which was found parked next to a restaurant.
CNN Portugal reported that the couple had been within the cafe for ‘several hours’.
The youngsters’s mother and stepfather remained silent after being approached by officers.
The boys were found by local baker Artur Quintas driving along the distant track along with his wife, when he spotted the boy’s blonde hair just before sunset on Tuesday.
He told Portuguese outlet Correio da Manhã: ‘They were crying, they were terrified. They were crying and calling for his or her father.
‘The oldest one told me that he and his brother had gotten lost within the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them.’
Their hands were covered in dirt, and considered one of them had a knee injury.
(Picture: GNR)
He added: ‘I saw that they were each carrying a backpack. I immediately realised they’d been abandoned.’
Their backpacks had nothing greater than a change of garments, an apple, an orange and two bottles of water.
Still believing they were a part of a game, the youngsters wandered the desolate area, which may reach 30C in Spring, before finally being found by the motive force.
It is believed the siblings were living in Colmar, eastern France, before their mother vanished with them around two weeks ago driving them to Portugal.
It has since emerged that their birth father, who’s separated from Marine, had also filed a toddler abduction report back to French police. Colmar prosecutor Jean Richert told Le Parisien: ‘He’s like everyone else, he doesn’t understand.’
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