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.
Another aspect setting this crime apart from the bad old days was that the demand for a ransom, which was not met, specified payment in a cryptocurrency that some criminals believe is harder to track. It was good to hear from Chief Superintendent Kwan King-pan that police are capable of combating and solving such a crime.
Nonetheless the incident is a reminder that while law enforcement is getting smarter, so are criminals who have swapped weapons for technology.
While the foiled kidnap may be an exception to a hard-won reputation for safe streets, it serves as a warning against complacency. So do the violent crime figures for the first five months of the year, which showed a rise of 9.4 per cent to 4,237 cases, compared with 3,872 in the same period in 2023.
Family environments such as shopping centres are supposed to be safe. If this incident prompts heightened vigilance to ensure they are, that has to be welcomed.
