French deaths in South Africa: two arrested in Luxembourg

Two suspects have been arrested in Luxembourg in an investigation into the deaths of three French nationals in South Africa, French prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The bodies of three adults were found on July 11 at two separate locations near Pretoria, said Gauthier Poupeau, the public prosecutor in Coutances in northwest France. Poupeau said the victims had suffered multiple violent blows with a blunt weapon.

The victims were a couple from near Mont Saint Michel and the woman's mother. They had arrived in South Africa the previous day with the woman's daughter, who is a minor.

South African authorities arrested a 44-year-old man identified by the prosecutor as the girl's father and the ex-husband of one of the victims. Poupeau said the man had arrived in South Africa shortly before the others and returned to Europe with the girl and another family member the day after the bodies were discovered.

Police in France traced two suspects to Luxembourg. The girl's father and an alleged accomplice, aged 71, were detained by Luxembourg police on July 22 on a European arrest warrant.

Poupeau's office said the girl was taken into protective custody and repatriated to France the same day. The two suspects remain in custody in Luxembourg and are expected to be handed over to French authorities shortly.

They are expected to face charges of murder, kidnapping, unlawful detention of a minor and criminal conspiracy. Poupeau said other people close to the main suspect have been taken into police custody in France and charged with criminal conspiracy and the abduction of a minor as part of an organised criminal group.