The Spanish national police arrested a Moroccan couple after they traveled to Spain and abandoned their 14-year-old daughter there. This was so that the girl would be under the care of social protection services.
The incident occurred last February when the couple left their daughter at a bus station in Granada and returned to Morocco. From there, the girl traveled to Bilbao, where her 19-year-old brother lives. He had also been left there by their parents under similar circumstances years ago, according to investigations by the immigration and customs team of the police leadership in the Basque Country.
Upon her arrival in Bilbao, being alone, the girl approached social protection services. They activated care protocols, initially placing her in a shelter and then in a center subject to the official supervision of the relevant authorities.
At the end of last November, the unaccompanied minor team received a report from the accommodation unit of the child services indicating that the parents had unexpectedly visited their daughter at the center. This raised an alert with the authorities.
The couple intended to leave Spain and return to Morocco. However, they were arrested at Loiu Airport while attempting to board the plane.
After gathering information and completing the case file, the couple was referred to the judiciary and the public prosecution specialized in matters concerning minors. They were released but remained legally accountable, and their daughter was placed under legal care before they were returned to Morocco.
The investigation indicates that the eldest son experienced a similar situation in his childhood, but the exact date of his arrival in Spain was not determined. Given that there were no relatives of the girl in Spain, the protection services took responsibility for her care instead of her older brother supervising her.
The national police confirmed that the deliberate abandonment of children in Spain to be taken care of by the social system has become a recurring phenomenon, especially among foreign children lacking any family references, necessitating close cooperation between specialized police units and social protection services.
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