(UTV|COLOMBO) – Police in the US state of New Mexico have rescued 11 malnourished children who were being kept in squalid conditions in a remote desert compound.
The local sheriff’s office said the children, aged 1 to 15, had no shoes, were wearing rags and “looked like Third World refugees”.
Five adults were found at the scene, including two heavily armed men.
Police searched the site after receiving a message that read: “We are starving and need food and water.”
It is not clear how the group ended up at the compound in Amalia.
Police described the compound as a small underground trailer covered by plastic, with no running water or electricity.
Two armed men, Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morten, were arrested at the scene.
The three women were also detained but later released.
The 11 children have been taken into care by local social services.
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