A 30-year-old German woman has been remanded in custody in the wake of the discovery in Gozo of a number of German women and children reported missing in their country.

The woman - who Times of Malta sources identified as Sabrina Albrecht - was accused in the Gozo court of abandoning her four-year-old son. She denied the charge.

The sources said the woman is claiming she left the child supervised by somebody else.

Inspector B C Spiteri prosecuted.

The Germans were found in a flat in Marsalforn after the police were called to assist a boy seen wandering alone in a field.

The police said yesterday that when the boy was discovered, investigations indicated he was living in Marsalforn together with other people who had been reported missing by the German authorities.

The children are now under the custody of social welfare agency Appoġġ.

Unconfirmed reports said that in Marsalforn the police discovered a German couple together with three women and five children, including two boys and a girl – aged five and six – who had been reported missing by their fathers in Germany.

The couple reportedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that they were hosting the women together with the children as part of a German NGO that offered shelter for victims of domestic violence.

It is understood that the couple and another woman are under arrest as investigations continue.