WELLINGTON, Aug 19 (Portal) – New Zealand police are investigating the alleged murder of two children whose remains were found in suitcases bought at an online auction for an unclaimed locker last week.
Police launched a murder investigation in Auckland last week after the remains were found by a family searching the contents of a storage cupboard they had bought unnoticed.
The two children are between 5 and 10 years old and have been dead for some time, police said on Thursday. The suitcases had been in storage for some time, they added, without giving details.
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Police and forensic investigators gather at the scene where suitcases containing the remains of two children were found after a family unrelated to the deaths sold them at an online auction for an unclaimed locker in Auckland, New Zealand. on August 11, 2022 in this still from a video. TVNZ/Handout via Portal TV
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Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua told reporters the children have yet to be formally identified, but they believed they had family in New Zealand.
It’s possible their families didn’t know the children were dead, he added.
Police didn’t say how the children died or if there were any suspects.
The family who found the bodies had nothing to do with the deaths.
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Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Adaptation by Stephen Coates
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