Editorial | Foiled Hong Kong kidnap stresses need for vigilance
- Thankfully, three-year-old boy taken from city shopping centre was found safe, but incident is a warning against complacency
There was a time when Hong Kong, now one of the world’s safest cities, was no stranger to violent street crime. But it was different from the brazen abduction of a three-year-old boy from a Tseung Kwan O shopping centre this week, allegedly for a ransom of more than HK$5 million (US$639,942).
Fortunately, a swift response by police to the incident freed the boy, apparently unharmed, in less than 12 hours. But a seemingly well-planned crime could have ended badly.
Police said shortly after being abducted the boy was stuffed into a suitcase to be taken to a nearby flat. Officers broke into the flat to rescue the boy and arrest two women.
They alleged that one of the women snatched the boy while he was playing outside a shop with his elder sister, who was given a ransom note with a warning not to contact police. Officers had access to CCTV images of a suspect carrying the child out of the mall, which were also shared with the public through commercial and social media.
Thankfully, though shocking, this was a one-off, unarmed crime and far from a return to the days of the wild armed raids and high-profile kidnappings of the 1980s and 1990s. Police said the two 38-year-old suspects, one a mainland visitor, did not know the boy’s family, but preparations had been carefully made with a stroller and suitcase ready to transport him.