You wouldn’t think that Almuñécar would be the scene of arranged (forced) marriages between minors, but you would be wrong.

It appears that two Romanian couples, one with a 15-year-old daughter and the other with a 13-year-old one, had allegedly arranged the marriages of the two girls in exchange for money, Alcohol and animals.

It was a neighbour who informed the police and when later arrested the two sets of parents (related, so that the girls were cousins) explained that this sort of thing was part of their national traditions.

It was social services that first responded to the claim made by the neighbour and once they had spoken to the girls, who both stated that they were marrying against their will, the social services presented the case before the Guardia Civil.

The girls have been taken into the custody of the Junta de Andalucia.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)