SPLIT, Croatia - A judge in Croatia's central Adriatic city of Split ordered a couple held for 30 days while police investigate allegations they mistreated their six children.

Ana Asanovic, 29, and her common-law husband Tonci Zuban, 42, were arrested on suspicion they abused their children, aged 4-12, beating them and locking them in a shed without water and food on many occasions, the Croatian daily newspaper Vecernje List of Zagreb reported Thursday.

Police were advised about the alleged abuse by a school master after the oldest boy told his story in a classroom in Kambelovac, outside Split.

Split authorities placed the six children in a state-run social care center.

The couple's neighbors in Kambelovac said they were not aware of any maltreatment of the children, Vecernje List said.

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