UNITED STATES:Authorities removed more than 180 women and children from the Texas compound of a polygamist sect on Saturday evening after receiving reports of "sexual and physical abuse".
Fears of a Waco-style confrontation were averted when leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints allowed authorities to enter the 700-hectare property. "There were some tense moments last night, but everything has remained calm and peaceful and they are continuing their search," said prosecutor Allison Palmer yesterday.
The 10,000-member Mormon group is led by Warren Jeffs, who was convicted in Utah last year on two counts of accomplice to rape. He awaits trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy.
Law enforcement officers in Eldorado, Texas, were acting on a report filed by a 16-year-old girl last week. She alleged she had been abused by 50-year-old Dale Barlow. Authorities were searching for evidence of a marriage between Barlow and the girl, who reportedly had a baby when she was 15. Under Texas law, girls cannot marry under the age of 16.
Ms Palmer said investigators were still trying to determine whether the girl was among those removed from the compound. The search warrant instructed officers to look for marriage records or other evidence linking her to the man and the baby. The warrant authorised seizure of computer drives, CDs, DVDs and photos.
Barlow, who was convicted last year in Arizona of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, told his probation officer that he did not know the girl.
Eighteen of the girls, who the state believes "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse", were taken into state custody, according to a spokesman for Child Protective Services. About 40 of those removed from the compound were boys.
The compound, known as the Yearning For Zion ranch, after a song written by Jeffs, is four miles outside the small Texas town of Eldorado, 320km (200 miles) northwest of San Antonio.
Jeffs assumed leadership of the sect from his late father in 2002. It split from the Mormon church more than a century ago. It practises polygamy in two neighbouring communities in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.
- (Guardian service)