Boy, 8, found crammed in suitcase at Spanish border granted permission to stay

The 8-year-old Ivorian boy who was discovered hidden in a suitcase that was smuggled across the border into Spanish territory in northern Africa, has been allowed to stay. The boy was granted temporary permission to stay so he can be reunited with his mother, officials said Thursday.
Police found eight-year-old Adou Ouattara on May 7 curled up and covered by blankets inside a suitcase without air vents at a border checkpoint in Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves in North Africa. A 19-year-old woman took the case through a pedestrian crossing from Morocco into the small Spanish-governed territory.

The Civil Guard arrested the woman. They also arrested the boy’s father when he tried to cross the border a few hours later. The father is Ivorian and lives in Spain’s Canary Islands.