Madrid-Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

Spanish police have arrested five people for allegedly selling a 14-year-old girl. Her parents are accused of selling their daughter in the town of Navarre for €5,000, five bottles of whiskey, and some food to a couple in the neighboring region of Catalonia.

According to the Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad, which reported the story on its website Saturday evening, the buyers forced the girl to beg in a supermarket and marry one of their sons. The buyers and their son were also arrested.

Police found the victim in a supermarket. She was not attending school. The five detainees are accused of human trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage.

Around the same time last year, the newspaper reported that a 21-year-old mother offered her newborn for sale on Facebook, allowing potential parents to bid against each other.