Police find 11 children living in decrepit New Mexico compound

Eleven children were rescued by police after they were discovered living in squalid conditions in a makeshift compound in rural northern New Mexico.

Taos County Sheriff’ s officials said the youngsters, ranging in age from one to 15, were removed from the compound in the small community of Amalia 145 miles (233km) north-east of Albuquerque and in an isolated high-desert area near the New Mexico - Colorado border.

Three women, believed to be them others of the children, were detained and later released.

Sheriff Jerry Hog ref es aid they were “the saddest living conditions and poverty” he has seen in 30 years on the job.

He said that other than a few potatoes and a box of rice, there was little food in the compound, which consisted of a small travel trailer buried in the ground and covered by plastic with no water, plumbing or electricity.

Speaking during a packed news conference, he said: “The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer. Both the adults and the children looked like refugees not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing.

“We all gave the kids our water and what snacks we had.”

The starving children were handed over to state childwelfare workers.

Sheriff Hog ref es aid two men were arrested during the search, which came amid a two-month investigation in collaboration with authorities in Clayton County, Georgia, and the FBI.

He said FBI agents had surveilled the area a few weeks ago but did not find probable cause to search the property.

Siraj Wahhaj was detained on an outstanding warrant in Georgia alleging child abduc- tion and Lucas Morten was jailed on suspicion of harbouring a fugitive.

The search for the young child began back in January, when W ah haj’ s est ranged wife, Hakima Ramzi, reportedly recorded a video on Facebook begging for help in finding her son.

“He’s sick, he needs his medications,” she said. “He needs everything. I don’t know if he’s alive, or he is, well, I don’t know his condition now.

So please, please, I need your help to find my husband and my son.”

A three-year-old boy reported missing from Clayton County since December 2017 was not among the 11 children found at the compound but officials believed he had been held there recently.

The group appeared to have been living at the compound for a few months, but the sheriff said it remains unclear how or why they ended up in New Mexico.