--- title: Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother description: Adou Ouattara, who was found last month curled up and covered inside a suitcase, was reunited with his mother on Monday canonical: https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-08T19:00:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:01:09.422Z article:section: World og:title: Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother og:description: "It's a very beautiful day" og:url: https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c14e27d5edf189/698853855f570f686bb1bdfd/adou-ouattara.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Adou Ouattara og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother twitter:description: "It's a very beautiful day" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c14e27d5edf189/698853855f570f686bb1bdfd/adou-ouattara.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother ## Video: Illegal Immigration by Sea [Watch (HLS stream): Illegal Immigration by Sea](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8JIYmb2M.m3u8) (5:58)  _Published 2009-03-27. Beach landings are part of a recent spike in illegal immigration by sea to the San Diego area from Tijuana_ by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 8, 2015 7:00 PM CUT  A handout pictured realeased shows Ivorian boy Adou Ouattara, left, hugging his mother Lucie Ouattara after being reunited with her in Ceuta, on June 8, 2015 A handout pictured realeased shows Ivorian boy Adou Ouattara, left, hugging his mother Lucie Ouattara after being reunited with her in Ceuta, on June 8, 2015Jorge Arbona Lopez — AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 8, 2015 7:00 PM CUT An eight-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast was reunited with his mother Monday, a month after he was found hidden in a suitcase at a Spanish border crossing. Adou Ouattara was found curled up inside a suitcase without air vents by police in Ceuta, a Spanish border checkpoint in North Africa, on May 7, reports Agence France-Presse. A 19-year-old woman was carrying the case through a security checkpoint when a scanner detected Adou inside. Adou’s mother left the Ivory Coast with his grandmother last year when she went to Spain to go meet his father, who was already living legally in the Canary Islands. His father was arrested and charged with human-rights abuse for trying to smuggle his son across the border. The family is one of thousands that risk their lives trying to enter Spanish territories adjacent to Morocco every year, hoping to travel to Europe for a better life. Many scramble over the 23-foot fences, and others smuggle themselves in cargo or try to swim. Adou was living in a center for underage migrants in Ceuta when he was finally reunited with his mother on Monday. “His mother cried,” Maria Antonia Palomo, the Ceuta official in charge of juvenile affairs, told the media. “It’s a very beautiful day.” \[[_AFP_](http://news.yahoo.com/boy-smuggled-spain-suitcase-reunited-mother-175319104.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/"},"headline":"Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother","datePublished":"2015-06-08T19:00:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:01:09.422Z","description":"Adou Ouattara had been living in a youth home for migrants for a month","url":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/","keywords":["Spain","human trafficking","Morocco"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c14e27d5edf189/698853855f570f686bb1bdfd/adou-ouattara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c14e27d5edf189/698853855f570f686bb1bdfd/adou-ouattara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Adou Ouattara","caption":"Adou Ouattara","creditText":"Jorge Arbona Lopez — AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/","name":"Boy Smuggled in Suitcase to Spain Reunited With His Mother"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Illegal Immigration by Sea","description":"Beach landings are part of a recent spike in illegal immigration by sea to the San Diego area from Tijuana","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8JIYmb2M/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2009-03-27T21:33:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8JIYmb2M.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/","duration":"PT5M58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3913084/boy-smuggled-suitcase-spain-adou-ouattara/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```