Police in the US state of New Mexico have rescued 11 malnourished children who were being kept in squalid conditions in a remote desert compound.
They said the children, aged one to 15, had no shoes, were wearing rags and “looked like Third World refugees”. Five adults were found at the scene, including two heavily armed men.
Police searched the site after receiving a message from a third party that read: “We are starving and need food and water.”
It is not clear how the group ended up at the compound in Amalia, near the state’s border with Colorado. Police described the compound as a small underground caravan covered by plastic, with no running water or electricity.
Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe told ABC News the children were hungry, thirsty and filthy. “I’ve been a cop for 30 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. Unbelievable,” he said. “They were skinny, their ribs showed, they were in very poor hygiene and very scared.”
No fresh water was found at the site, and the only food there was a few potatoes and a box of rice, police said.
Two armed men, Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton, were arrested at the scene, and charged with several counts of child abuse.
Three women, believed to be the children’s mothers, were detained but later released.
Source: BBC
