Surveillance footage helped Hong Kong police rescue 3-year-old boy from kidnappers

Hong Kong required in September 2021 that all SIM card users in the city register their personal information such as name, date of birth and ID card number by February 2023.

Another source stressed that the proximity of all the events, which occurred within a radius of less than 1 km, allowed law enforcement to quickly locate the place where the victim was being held captive.

The Post learned that the victim was abducted Wednesday afternoon from Tseung Kwan O Plaza shopping mall and taken to Tong Ming Street Park before being stuffed into a suitcase and taken to the apartment at Wings Private Residence. The three locations are about 500 meters apart.

“Due to the relatively small area involved, police did not need to review extensive CCTV footage,” the second source said.

The source added that police were able to identify the suspects from the images, “with the naked eye,” based on physical descriptions – such as their height, build and shoes – despite the fact that the two alleged kidnappers used a suitcase to hide the boy and changed their clothes.

In a bid to deter crime, Hong Kong authorities installed 15 surveillance cameras in Mong Kok in March, as part of a broader plan to install 2,000 by the end of 2024, with a focus on densely populated and high-crime areas.

Tseung Kwan O is one of the sites where new high-resolution surveillance cameras will be installed.

The new cameras in Mong Kok helped police identify two mainland Chinese men who allegedly installed a card reader and a fake keypad with a wireless transmitter on an ATM at a bank in the district last April. One of the suspects was arrested at a border checkpoint on April 30 while the other was placed on a wanted list.

Police said one of the kidnappers abducted the boy while he was playing with his older sister outside a store in the mall at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The kidnapper handed the sister a ransom note warning the family not to call the police.

The Post has learned that the family was ordered to pay 660,000 Tether digital coins worth about HK$5.15 million (US$660,000) for the boy’s release.

Describing the kidnapping plot as “premeditated,” Chief Superintendent Kwan King-pan revealed on Thursday that one of the suspects took the boy by force, placing him in a stroller and taking him to a nearby park to meet the other suspect who was carrying a suitcase.

He said the boy was then placed in a suitcase and taken to the home of one of the suspects in Tseung Kwan O. After identifying the suspects and the apartment, officers from the bureau raided The Wings apartment and rescued the boy at 5:25am on Thursday. The two women were arrested at the scene.

Kwan said the boy was taken to hospital for a medical examination which showed he had not suffered any injuries.

Police said no ransom was paid.

The two women, both 38, were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping. One of the suspects is a visitor from mainland China, while the other holds a Hong Kong identity card. The mainland woman arrived in the city in late June.

Law enforcement said both suspects had financial problems, but they did not know the boy’s family. Officers are still investigating why he was targeted.

In Hong Kong, kidnapping is punishable by up to life in prison.