Woman hunted over HK child abduction

This undated photo shows the 6-month-old baby. Photo: Courtesy of the Hong Kong Police Force

Hong Kong residents on Monday were angered by reports of a woman with a mainland accent who allegedly stole a 6-month-old baby while her mother was distracted. Neither the suspect nor the baby had been found as of press time, according to the Hong Kong Police Force.

Police started to search for the woman, believed to be aged between 40 and 50, right after the mother called the police on Saturday evening, an unnamed official with the newsroom office at the Hong Kong Police Force said Monday.

Leung Chun-ying, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region said at a press conference on Sunday that the government was paying a lot of attention to the case.

Police have launched a full investigation into the case, including the crime scene and at locations such as ports, said Leung.

Two hotlines are being publicized in order to seek clues, the Hong Kong Police Force said Monday.

Authorities with the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department told news portal people.com.cn that the borders were on high alert, and said that the department will cooperate with other law enforcement bodies involved in the investigation.

At around 7:30 pm on Saturday evening, a 31-year-old woman surnamed Ng took her baby in a stroller to walk in a park in the district of Kowloon. A woman in a black coat and blue jeans, believed to be about 1.73 meters tall, approached her, Phoenix TV reported on Sunday. The suspect, with curly black hair, asked Ng how to get to the Wong Tai Sin Station, and seemed to have an accent from Guangdong Province.

Ng said that as she was giving directions, she felt as if the woman was looking at her baby. After Ng began to walk away, she found that the stroller was lighter and her baby was gone.

The Nandu Daily cited Yeung Chi-choi, an assistant commanding officer of the Kowloon City District, as saying that there may be a male accomplice involved in the case, who took the baby and hid her in his clothes while the woman distracted Ng.