Tragic CCTV footage released before parents abandoned children ‘blindfolded in woods’ on fake treasure hunt

CCTV images show a couple stopping at a petrol station as they were allegedly on the way to abandon their children in a forest in Portugal.

The two boys, aged four and five, appeared to have been left in a forest located hundreds of miles from their home in Colmar, eastern France, and were found walking down a road between the towns of Alcácer do Sal and Comporta at around 7pm on May 19.

On 21 May, the boys' mother, aged 41, and stepfather, aged 55, were arrested in Fatima, 124 miles away, after allegedly leaving the two children.

A local couple found the boys, who told them that they had been left on the N235 road with food and drink consisting of two pieces of fruit and two bottles of water, and a change of clothes.

The parents are believed to have told the children they were playing a game called 'drive away the devil'.

According to The Mirror, they were blindfolded and told they could only remove their blindfolds once they'd found knives their parents had buried in the ground to cut them off.

While the children believed they were playing the game, their mother and stepfather are accused of running away.

Now, CCTV images have been obtained by local media outlets, which show the car stopping at a petrol station on the way to where they would be left, the Daily Mail reported.

This was located at Miranda do Douro, close to Portugal's border with Spain.

CCTV footage seems to show the family near the border with Spain (CNN Portugal)

In the clip, the two children can be seen playing in the back of the car, while both adults get out of the car and approach an employee at the petrol station.

On 21 May, authorities in Portugal said that they had made two arrests 'linked to the incident involving two minor children found alone near a public road in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal'.

The two adults were arrested on suspicion of abuse, abandonment, and endangering others, and they have not been formally identified by the authorities since being arrested.

CNN Portugal has reported that French authorities will also need to investigate whether the children's biological father is fit to care for them.

The biological father had reported them missing on 11 May, and French authorities had issued a Europe-wide request to help track them down, Reuters reports.

The boys were found by local couple Eugenia and Artur Quintas.

Artur told local news: "They were crying, they were terrified. They were crying and calling for their father."

The boys were found with a change of clothes, pieces of fruit, and water (GNR)

He added: "The oldest one told me that he and his brother had gotten lost in the forest and that their father and mother had left without taking them.

"I realised right away that they had been abandoned by the backpacks. When I saw the way the backpacks were packed, I knew they had been abandoned."

The couple gave the boys something to eat and called the police, according to a report from the BBC.

In a statement, Portugal's Republican National Guard (GNR), said: "The Republican National Guard located and detained today, May 21, in Fatima, a 55-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman suspected of committing the crimes of domestic violence and exposure and abandonment."