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18 children abducted for witchcraft purposes in Cote d'Ivoire

Xinhua, January 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

At least 18 children were abducted and used in ritual crimes last year in Cote d'Ivoire, a police source said Thursday.

The director for criminal investigation department of the police Honore Gnagne said between Feb. 3, 2014 to date, 18 cases of child abduction had been reported across the national territory, four of them in Abidjan's Yopougon district.

"Investigations have revealed that the children were objects of ritual crimes," he said.

Gnagne said the "networks of perpetrators of these barbaric acts have been penetrated and investigations are ongoing to have them apprehended."

A meeting between Cote d'Ivoire's minister of interior and that of family, women and children was held on Wednesday to assess measures put in place by security services to end this criminal practice. Endi