French national arrested after allegedly abandoning 2 children on a street in Portugal

Portugal’s National Guard (GNR) said on Thursday it ‌had detained a French woman suspected of abandoning her two young children, who were found earlier ​this week walking alone along a road ​in a small Portuguese town, Reuters writes.

French authorities had ⁠issued a Europe-wide request to help ​find the woman and children, aged 4 and ​5, after their father reported them missing from their home in the town of Colmar, eastern France.

Portugal’s ​Judicial Police (PJ) said in a statement earlier on Thursday that the children ​were discovered on Tuesday along a road in the town ‌of ⁠Alcacer do Sal, in the Alentejo region, apparently lost after being abandoned by their mother, who they did not identify.

GNR, a gendarmerie-style ​police force, said ​in a ⁠statement it had detained the 41-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man ​in the town of Fatima, “both suspected ​of ⁠abandoning the two children found alone.”