Adou Ouattara returned to his mother at a youth centre where he has been cared for since border police discovered him on 7 May

An eight-year-old boy from Ivory Coast, who was caught being smuggled into Spain in a suitcase last month, was reunited with his mother on Monday.

Adou Ouattara was returned to his mother at a youth centre where he has been cared for since border police discovered him on 7 May in the suitcase of a Moroccan woman, according to a statement from the city of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in north Africa.

Police images of the scanned case shocked many and highlighted the plight of migrants trying to reach Europe.

X-ray scan at Spanish border finds child stashed inside suitcase Read more

The boy’s father, who lives legally with the mother in Spain, was arrested hours after the boy was discovered and remains jailed on rights abuse charges for trying to have him smuggled into the country. Through his lawyer, the father has said he knew nothing of the suitcase plan, believing his son was to be brought in by car with a visa he had paid for.

The Moroccan woman, who was unrelated to the boy, has also been detained.

Spanish authorities allowed the mother to take custody of the boy after DNA tests proved they were related.

The mother and the boy were accompanied by lawyer Juan Isidro Fernandez Diaz, who said they had paid the father’s bail and hoped he would be released soon.

The father has been living legally on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands for seven years. His Ivorian wife had joined him and they were trying to bring over two of their children.

His lawyer said an 11-year-old daughter had been allowed in recently but Ouattara’s monthly salary fell short of the amount authorities required to care for two children. It was then that the father bought the visa.

Adou was found in the suitcase after Guardia Civil agents noticed that a 19-year-old woman was reluctant to pass through border controls at Ceuta, and asked her to place her fuchsia-coloured, wheeled suitcase in an x-ray machine, expecting to find drugs or illegal merchandise inside.

Instead, the figure of a young child was clearly outlined in the x-ray. When guards opened the bag, the boy emerged from the suitcase scared and confused, telling authorities that his name was Abou, he was eight years old and from the Ivory Coast.

Each year thousands of migrants risk their lives to cross into Spain through the northern Africa enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, hoping to find a better life in Europe. Last year fewer than 5,000 were successful in making it across the border.

As Spanish authorities step up efforts to crack down on the migrants, many have become more creative, resorting to stowing away in false-bottomed cars or in shipping containers.