A mother and stepfather have been arrested after they abandoned two young brothers in woodland 1,300 miles from home.

French boys Barthelemy, five, and Zacharie, three, were left blindfolded in Portugal after being told they were going to play a game to ‘drive away the evil’.

They were found by local couple Eugenia and Artur Quintas at 7pm on Tuesday walking down a rural road between the coastal towns of Alcacer do Sal and Comporta.

Artur said: ‘They were terrified. They were crying and calling for their father.’

All they had with them were a change of clothes, two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water, but no identifying documents.

Both were covered in dirt and bruises and one of them had hurt his knee.

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Mr and Mrs Quintas took them home, where they called police who transported them to hospital where they were given a clean bill of health.

Portuguese police ask the kids some questions as they try to track down their parents
(Picture: GNR)

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It later emerged that their mother Marine Rousseau, 41, and stepfather, Marc Ballabriga, had blindfolded them and told them they could only remove their eye covers once they had found a knife buried in the ground to cut them off.

After several minutes of digging, Barthelemy took their blindfolds off and they realised they were alone.

At first, they thought it was part of the game and wandered around for several hours in a part of Portugal that can reach up to 30 °C during the day.

Artur told local media: ‘The oldest one told me that he and his brother had got lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them.

‘When I saw the way the backpacks were packed, I knew they had been abandoned.’

A Portuguese woman aged around 80 said to have spent most of her working life in France has emerged as one of the heroes in the sickening story.

O Vasco owner Jorge Lopes told Portuguese press the couple had spent more than five hours on his cafe terrace and the unnamed pensioner called cops.

She suspected they could be the pair who had allegedly abandoned the two brothers after asking them where they were from and getting the response: ‘We live in the world.’

Speaking of the moment when five police officers arrived and went up to them, Mr Lopes said: ‘They acted as if nothing had happened.

‘They stayed sitting and didn’t seem nervous. They were searched and handcuffed without any stress at all.

‘When I saw them so at ease in front of the authorities, I was astonished.

‘It was as if they didn’t have blood running through their veins.’

The belongings found on the two boys (Picture: GNR)
He said his wife had served them pastries and cafe lattes earlier in the day and Marine had asked her to charge her phone behind the bar.

A customer called Antonio said they were ‘chatting and laughing’ when he arrived, with another client saying the arrested man told him as he sat down next to them: ‘Look at this. I’m here in the sun and the sun is looking at me.’

Teresa Pinto, a worker at a restaurant called Rustikus in Alcacer do Sal where Marine and Marc were with the two brothers shortly before they were allegedly abandoned, told respected Portuguese tabloid Correio da Manha overnight: ‘They arrived just after midday on Tuesday and were sat on the terrace for about two hours.

‘The little ones were playing football and several times the ball went towards the street but neither adult got out of their chairs to stop it.’

The couple’s French-plated green Opel was taken away by police after they were held.

They have been described as ‘not very co-operative’ since their arrests.

GNR police spokesman Carlos Canatario told Portuguese TV broadcaster SIC: ‘They’re not being hostile.

‘They’re simply being silent and very reserved.’

The boys were expected to be transferred to the French embassy after it was revealed they had no blood relatives in Portugal.

Investigations are ongoing, but it appears as though Rousseau, thought to be from Colmar, eastern France, disappeared with the children around two weeks ago.

During that time, their family had no idea where they were.

Rousseau’s mother and the children’s father contacted police to say the children had been abducted.

French authorities only obtained a solid lead after Rousseau used a bank card.

Speaking about the boys’ dad, who is separated from Rousseau, prosecutor Jean Richert said: ‘He’s like everyone else, he doesn’t understand.’

The family car was tracked entering Portugal through Spain on May 11 through the Bragança crossing.

They then travelled to Miranda do Corvo before heading to Alcacer do Sal – 1,300 miles away from Colmar – where they stayed in a hotel 12 miles from where the boys were found.

The mother and stepfather were later arrested after their car was spotted outside a café.

The boys are due to be reunited with their family in the coming days, as France prepares to request the extradition of Rousseau and Ballabriga.