A group of Angolan men are being held in custody after a fire in a Sintra apartment last month, which caused the death of a baby and left two other slightly older children injured, raised suspicion. None of the youngsters, as far as the authorities can determine, have blood links to any of the men they were with, nor were they expected to stay in Portugal.
Reporting on the case, Correio da Manhã newspaper says this is the latest in a line of stories involving young children being transported from Angola into the country. They are then reportedly “sold on” to buyers in France, writes the paper.
This latest case involves children who had very little in the way of identification documents – simply passports, all of them with different names.
While immigration and border control police (Serviços de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras – SEF) look into the case, the newspaper claims it is the second of its kind in a week.
The first involved another Angolan man, travelling into Portugal from Luanda with three young children, which he claimed were his children. The children all had false passports and the final destination of this group was also France, writes the newspaper.
Only a few weeks ago, a Belgian woman was detained after SEF and Polícia Judiciária had tracked her travelling in and out of Portugal, carrying different babies, all of them just weeks old.
Correio da Manhã adds that cooperation between Portugal and Angola is now ongoing, while the surviving children from this latest case remain in care.
