Remains found at New Mexico compound after 11 children rescued

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Remains of a boy have been found at a compound in New Mexico where 11 children were discovered last week living in an underground trailer in squalid conditions, authorities said Tuesday.

The remains were found Monday during a search in Amalia, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said.

Authorities had been looking for a four-year-old boy, Abdul-ghani, who was reportedly abducted by his father in Georgia in December.

The father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, was arrested on Friday after he was found with four other adults and 11 children – aged one to 15 – living in a trailer buried in the ground near New Mexico’s border with Colorado, with no water, no plumbing, no electricity and wearing rags.

Conditions at a compound where 11 children were taken into protective custody after a raid by authorities near Amalia, New Mexico, US, August 6, 2018. /VCG Photo

The adults, including three women believed to be mothers of some of the children, have been charged with child abuse.

Wahhaj was armed with several guns, including a loaded AR-15 assault rifle, but was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff said.

The compound had been under investigation for months. But authorities only staged the raid after someone believed to have been in the compound sent out a message for help that said: "We are starving and need food and water."

The owner of the property said he had concerns about the encampment – which was walled off by stacks of old tires, wooden pallets and other debris – and that he and his wife had pressed the authorities to have it removed but that his attempts were shot down.

Abdul-ghani was not found during the initial raid and authorities returned to the compound to search for the boy, who was believed to have been there as recently as several weeks ago, Hogrefe said.

The boy’s mother told police that Wahhaj took the boy for a trip to a park last December and never returned.

According to the extradition warrant, Wahhaj told the boy's mother that he wanted to perform an exorcism on the child, who suffered from seizures, because he believed the three-year-old was possessed by the devil.

The boy's mother said the boy can't walk and requires constant attention.

The extradition warrant said the boy suffered from severe medical issues including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a defect caused by lack of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth.

A hearing for the five adults arrested at the compound was expected Wednesday.

(Top picture: This undated handout photo released by the Taos County Sheriff's Office on August 4, 2018 shows a view of the compound in Amalia, New Mexico, where police rescued 11 children. /VCG Photo)

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Source(s): AP