A couple who adopted a pair of African twins and then dumped them at a police station after they apparently changed their minds have been arrested two years after they went on the run.

The couple, Natacha Perrig and Eduardo Rucci, had adopted the two children, six years old at the time, from Guinea-Bissau in 2019 before Rucci took them to the Children’s and Women’s Police Station in Bahia Blanca, a city in the province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, on 17th November 2020, and left them there.

The children repeatedly asked “When is dad coming back?” but they were left to their fate by the couple, who already had a biological daughter of their own, who was 11 at the time.

The incident sparked outrage and a federal investigation but the couple went on the run, only to be arrested on Monday (31st October) after finally being located in a neighbourhood in San Martin de los Andes, in Neuquen Province, on the other side of the country.

Investigators reportedly seized important material pertaining to the case, including the adoption certificates issued by the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, plane tickets, photographs of the children, as well as other documents that the couple had presented to the authorities to obtain guardianship of the children, who have not been named.

The arrests were carried out with the help of the General Directorate of Migration and the investigation is reportedly being led by Dr Maria Silvina Dominguez of the Federal Court of Zapala.

The two children had been adopted by Perrig and Rucci, who are in their late 40s, after Rucci travelled to Africa and spent a week at an orphanage with them.

According to the case file, after returning with the children to Argentina, Rucci went to the Women’s Police Station “holding the minors by both arms and informing that it was his wish to hand over the children, totally disregarding the paternal obligations of caring for, living together, feeding and educating them.”

After news that the African twins had been abandoned by their parents, the municipality received hundreds of offers from people offering to help, with the twins finally being adopted again at the end of 2021, according to social worker Letizia Tamborindeguy.

The investigation into the couple is ongoing.