Children rescued from dilapidated compound where they were kept by armed men
Culled from Metro
A group of 11 children aged between one year old and 15 years have been rescued from a dilapidated compound where they were being held by armed men.
Two have been arrested after the children were discovered in what have been described as ‘the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen.’
They were discovered during a search for a three-year-old who was abducted in New Mexico, but still remains missing.
Lucas Morten and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj were both arrested at the compound in New Mexico (Picture: AFP)
The investigation started last year on the opposite side of the U.S. in Jonesboro, Georgia, where Siraj Wahhaj was accused of kidnapping his toddler.
The boy’s mother told police her child, who she said suffered from seizures along with developmental and cognitive delays, went to the park with his father Wahhaj last December and never returned.
On August 2, Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe of Taos County in New Mexico issued a search warrant describing ‘a makeshift compound surrounded by tires and an earthen berm’ in a subdivision in the rural community of Amalia, where Wahhaj along with adult Lucas Morten were thought to be in hiding.
The FBI had provided information and surveillance on the spot but ‘didn’t feel there was enough probable cause to get on the property,’ Hogrefe said.
‘That all changed for me when a message was forwarded to us from a Georgia Detective that we reasonably believed came from someone at the compound – the message sent to a third party simply said in part ‘we are starving and need food and water,” the sheriff said in a statement.
‘I absolutely knew that we couldn’t wait on another agency to step up and we had to go check this out as soon as possible.’
The sheriff described planning ‘a tactical approach for our own safety because we had learned the occupants were most likely heavily armed.’
On the morning of August 3, a dozen officers kicked off the ‘all day’ operation, discovering hidden beneath New Mexico’s scrubland the two men with an AR-15 rifle, five loaded 30-round magazines and four loaded pistols, including one in Wahhaj’s pocket.
The men had refused to follow verbal direction, police said, who added the raid went without major incident or injuries even as Wahhaj needed to be ‘taken down.’
Police found many more ammo rounds in the ramshackle hideout, they said, which they described as ‘a small travel trailer buried in the ground covered by plastic with no water, plumbing, or electricity.’
‘The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer,’ Hogrefe said.
‘But what was most surprising, and heartbreaking was when the team located a total of five adults and 11 children that looked like third world country refugees.’
‘Not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for
Morten was charged with harboring a fugitive and Wahhaj was booked without bond on his Georgia warrant for child abduction.
Three women thought to be parents of the children – who are now in protective custody – were also detained for questioning.
They were released pending further investigation.
None of the adults would give details about the whereabouts of the missing toddler, but police believe he was at the compound a few weeks ago.
