Woman Detected By X-ray As She Tries To Smuggle 8-Year-Old Inside A Suitcase Into Spain

This is the incredible X-ray that shows an eight-year-old boy hidden inside a woman's tiny suitcase as she tried to smuggle him into Spain.

Customs officials stopped a 19-year-old woman trying to get in through the Cueta border, who was acting suspiciously.

Expecting to find drugs, they were shocked to see instead a clear outline of the youngster curled up inside Moroccan woman's luggage. 

The child, of sub-Saharan origin and believed to be no older than eight, was checked by medics and taken into the care of social services.

A Civil Guard spokesman said they have located a woman from the Ivory Coast, who has admitted to being the mother of the child and was waiting for his arrival.

The mother, who has a temporary residents visa in the Canary Islands, was arrested alongside the woman transporting the child into Ceuta, which shares a border with Morocco.

Police are investigating the incident and have also arrested a man, from Costa de Marfil on the Ivory Coast, who has been identified as the boy's father. 

According to authorities, more than 16,000 people tried to enter the country in 2014 and nearly 5,000 succeeded, compared to 3,000 in 2013.