Madrid (AFP) - Police found an eight-year-old Ivorian boy hidden in a suitcase that was smuggled across the border into Spanish territory in north Africa, an official said on Friday.

A 19-year-old woman took the case through a pedestrian crossing from Morocco into the small Spanish-governed territory of Ceuta on Thursday, a spokesman for the Civil Guard police force said.

"When they put the suitcase through the scanner, the operator noticed something strange, which seemed to be a person inside the case," he told AFP.

"When it was opened they found a minor, in a terrible state."

The boy said he was eight years old and from Ivory Coast, according to the spokesman.

The Civil Guard arrested the woman, who was due to go before a judge.

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Spanish authorities say a young woman tried to take the suitcase through a pedestrian crossing from …

They also arrested the boy's father when he tried to cross the border a few hours later. The father is Ivorian and lives in Spain's Canary Islands.

Thousands of migrants each year risk their lives trying to enter Ceuta and another Spanish territory bordering Morocco, Melilla, in search of a better life in Europe.

Many Africans try to scramble over the seven-metre (23-foot) fences that separate the Spanish cities from Morocco.

Others smuggle themselves over the border hidden in vehicles and cargoes or try to swim or sail from shores on the Moroccan side.

Earlier this week a 23-year-old Moroccan was found in a shipping container in the port of Melilla.

He was dehydrated after four days cooped up without food or water, since the container was left unattended over the May holiday weekend.

Boy found being smuggled in suitcase

An electronic scanner picked up something strange at the border of Morocco and a Spanish-governed territory.
The 8-year-old's condition

By Anthony Deutsch

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - International inspectors have found traces of sarin and VX nerve agent at a military research site in Syria that had not been declared to the global chemical weapons watchdog, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

Samples taken by experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition and Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in December and January tested positive for chemical precursors needed to make the toxic agents, the sources told Reuters on the condition of anonymity because the information is confidential.

"This is a pretty strong indication they have been lying about what they did with sarin," one diplomatic source said. "They have so far been unable to give a satisfactory explanation about this finding."

In 2013, the United States threatened military intervention against Syria's government after sarin gas attacks in August of that year killed hundreds of residents in Ghouta, a rebel-controlled suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.

But the Damascus government forestalled foreign intervention by agreeing to a U.S.- and Russian-brokered deal under which it joined the OPCW, admitting to having a chemicals weapons program and promising to eliminate it.

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Danish chemist Bjorn Schmidt (R) speaks to the media, as part of a joint Danish-Norwegian task force …

The government of President Bashar al-Assad last year handed over 1,300 tonnes of chemical arms to a joint U.N.-OPCW mission for destruction. But Damascus has denied using sarin or any chemical weapons in battle during Syria's continuing civil war.

The diplomatic sources said the sarin and VX nerve samples were taken from the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, a government agency where Western intelligence agencies say Syria developed biological and chemical weapons.

Asked about the diplomats' account, OPCW spokesman Peter Sawczak said: "Obviously we are working to clarify Syria's declaration. I cannot discuss any details of that process, but in due course the assessment team will issue a report."

CHLORINE GAS ATTACKS

An OPCW fact-finding mission has been investigating allegations of dozens of recent chlorine gas attacks in Syrian villages but is being refused access to the sites by the Assad government, the diplomatic sources said.

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A member of the Norwegian Special Forces looks on during a sea patrol around a Norwegian frigate tha …

The finding of VX and sarin supports assertions by Western governments that Assad withheld some of his stockpile, or did not disclose the full extent of Syria's chemical capability or arsenal to the OPCW, according to diplomats and analysts.

OPCW inspectors have been to Syria eight times to verify the accuracy of the details of the chemical weapons program provided in an initial report, but keep returning with more questions than answers, the diplomats said.

Under the deal with Washington and Moscow, Syria agreed to permanently and completely destroy its chemical weapons program and cannot use poison gas in warfare.

But the OPCW, which is not mandated to assign blame, said chlorine has been used "systematically and repeatedly" as a weapon in Syria after Damascus handed over its declared toxic stockpile.

Syria has begun destroying a dozen chemical weapons production and storage sites, but also last year added several new facilities it had not initially disclosed to the OPCW.

The United States wants a team of United Nations investigators to determine who is to blame for the more recent chlorine attacks in a bid to pave the way for U.N. Security Council action against those responsible.

"We believe - and it’s clear that many Council members agree - that we have got to have a means of establishing who is carrying out these chlorine attacks," Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on Friday.

"We hope that we can make progress on a resolution to ensure that there is a mechanism that will not only establish chlorine use, but establish who carried out that use," she said.

Power said Washington believes the facts indicate that the Syrian government is responsible.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British expert on biological and chemical weapons, said Syrian government forces appeared to be the only party that could have carried out the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin attacks in Ghouta because they were mounted on a large scale and professionally executed.

"This unequivocally proves there was sarin in Syria. If the OPCW possesses this evidence, it is absolutely another nail in this coffin," he said.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Military bases and installations in the United States have been ordered to raise their force protection condition status to Bravo (FPCON Bravo), due to general concerns about ISIS related threats, but not because of any specific threat or plot.

U.S. Northern Command’s Admiral William Gortney ordered the increase in the force protection condition from FPCON Alpha Plus, which is the standard for U.S. military bases.

The order will result in some visible increases in security, though there will also be other not-so-visible measures that will be taken. It is unclear how long the order to raise the force protection condition will remain in effect.

Force Protection Conditions essentially set a baseline for U.S. military facilities to follow for their security. This would include military recruiting stations and offices outside of U.S. military bases. The Pentagon has been on a higher force protection status than Alpha Plus for years.

The last time the force protection status was raised to the Bravo level was on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The higher levels of force protection are Charlie and Delta.

The FP Condition was raised to Bravo “as a prudent measure to remind installation commanders at all levels within the USNORTHCOM area of responsibility to ensure increased vigilance and safeguarding of all DOD personnel, installations and facilities," a defense officials said. "This change, in addition to random drills or exercises, is a mean to ensure that we effectively execute our force protection mission.”

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Adm. William Gortney, commander, NORAD/USNORTHCOM testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday …

The official said Thursday's comments by FBIDirector James Comey about the ISIS threat to the U.S. homeland were taken into consideration by Gortney in raising the force protection condition.

“We share the same concern about the potential threat posed by homegrown violent extremists, as discussed publicly by Director Comey and others. While our FPCON change is not tied to a specific, credible threat, recent events have led us to recognize the need to take prudent steps to ensure our FPCON measures can be increased quickly and unpredictably at the macro level, just as they routinely vary at the micro level on individual installations.”

The official stressed, "This FPCON change is not tied to any specific threat, but one of the ways we ensure the force protection of our service members and their families."

Definitions of the military's force protection conditions are available on official military websites.

FPCON NORMAL: This condition applies when a general global threat of possible terrorist activity exists and warrants a routine security posture.

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A Syrian opposition group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, fighte …

FPCON ALPHA: This condition applies when there is an increased general threat of possible terrorist activity against personnel or facilities.

FPCON BRAVO: This condition applies when an increased or more predictable threat of terrorist activity exists.

FPCON CHARLIE: This condition applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.

FPCON DELTA: Applies in the immediate area where a terrorist attack has occurred or when intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or person is imminent.

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