Spanish authorities on Saturday said they had arrested a French couple earlier in December for planning to sacrifice in the Sahara their five-year-old son, who they believed to be possessed.

The couple was arrested on December 21 in the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, as the family was about to board a ferry to the Moroccan city of Tangiers.

The Guardia Civil police force said in a statement they had arrested a couple of French origin who intended to murder their five-year-old son in the Sahara, believing him to be possessed.

Both parents had psychiatric problems and were the subject of a European arrest warrant for the abduction of a minor, the Guardia Civil added.

The pair have been remanded in custody by a judge in Spain.

The child is in good health and has been sent to a reception centre for minors in Spain before being returned to France. (Courtesy, excluding headline, AFP)