Eight-year-old Ivory Coast boy smuggled into Spain in a suitcase

The child's father, who lives in the Canary Islands, had paid the woman to transport his son into the Spanish-owned city-province of Ceuta on the northern Moroccan coast, and she is not thought to be related to him.

Abou was said to be 'in an awful condition' when he was found by customs authorities who inspected the case for drugs after the young woman 'hesitated' and began 'acting suspiciously' at the border.

The child showed up on the X-ray machines when scanned at the border.

His dad, who is also called Abou, moved to Gran Canaria two years ago and had hoped to be reunited with his son.

He had travelled back to the Ivory Coast to collect him, paid the Moroccan woman to smuggle him through, and waited an hour and a half before following him through the land border between the Spanish territory and the north African country.

He was immediately arrested and DNA samples have been taken to confirm he is indeed the child's father as he claims, and not a child-trafficker.

Abou Senior was born in 1972 and lives in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he holds a valid residence card.

His wife and another daughter both live with him in the Spanish city.

Abou Senior and Fatima Y., the Moroccan carrier who lives in Ceuta, have both been remanded in custody without bail and could face up to eight years in prison because of the risk to the little boy's life.

He was forced to lie in the foetal position because the suitcase was so small, and did not have any air vents, nor could he have opened the case from the inside, meaning he was at serious risk of death from lack of oxygen.

The youngster is being cared for at a temporary foster home in Ceuta.