'House of horrors’ where man and woman were locked up, drugged and fed through tubes found by Spanish police

Pair discovered in 'terrible state' at nursing home near Cadiz

Spanish authorities have rescued two elderly people who were allegedly locked up, drugged, and fed through feeding tubes at what police described as a "house of horrors".

The Civil Guard said it discovered the German man and Dutch woman in a "terrible state" at a private nursing home near the southern city of Cadiz.

Officers from the force said a German-Cuban couple were among six arrested on suspicion of swindling 1.8m euros (£1.6m) over four years from elderly residents at the property,

The victims, whose health has since “improved significantly” were only found after Frankfurt police asked their Spanish counterparts for help in locating a 101-year-old German woman called Maria Babes.

Police tracked her down to a care home in the village of Chiclana de la Frontera. She told officers the German man and Cuban woman befriended her in Tenerife and brought her to southern Spain claiming they would look after her, The Local reported.

Maria Babes at a care home in Cadiz (AFP/Getty Images)

Babes reportedly said she was handcuffed and kept locked up in a house for several months.

"In October, she had more than €162,000 in the bank and after this couple appeared in her life, by mid-December she had under 300 euros, her house in Tenerife had been sold and she didn't receive one euro of the sale," the Civil Guard said in a statement.

Before police managed to detain the couple, they allegedly returned to the care home and removed Babes, who died five hours later in their car.

They reportedly cremated Babes’ body, preventing authorities from conducting an autopsy.

After police arrested the couple, officers searched their home and discovered they had a rented property nearby.

There they found the two elderly victims locked in separate rooms, drugged and fed unnecessarily by feeding tubes inserted into their stomachs through their noses.

Police said four other people “looked after” by the couple had “died unexpectedly once they had taken all their capital”.