Surveillance camera footage provided vital clues in helping Hong Kong police solve the kidnapping of a three-year-old boy in about 12 hours after he was snatched in a shopping centre and stuffed in a suitcase, the Post learned.
A source familiar with the case said on Friday that footage collected from the mall, shops and the management of the buildings allowed officers to track the route the captors used and locate where the victim was taken and held captive.
The insider added that the IP address and mobile phone number used to communicate with the boy’s family also aided the investigation, but he did not elaborate further.
Hong Kong required in September 2021 that all SIM card users in the city register their personal information such as their name, date of birth and identity card number before February 2023.
Another source highlighted that the proximity of all events, occurring within a radius of less than 1km, enabled law enforcement to quickly pinpoint the location of where the victim was held captive.
The Post learned that the victim was abducted in Tseung Kwan O Plaza shopping centre on Wednesday afternoon and taken to Tong Ming Street Park before being stuffed in a suitcase and transported to the flat at the Wings private housing estate. The three locations are about 500 metres (1,640 feet) apart.
“Due to the relatively small area involved, police did not need to pore over extensive CCTV footage,” the second source said.
The source added that officers could identify the suspects from the footage with “bare eyes” based on the physical descriptions – such as their heights, sizes and their shoes – despite the two alleged captors using a suitcase to conceal the boy and having changed their attire.
In an effort to deter crime, Hong Kong authorities installed 15 sets of surveillance cameras in Mong Kok in March as part of a broader plan to have 2,000 set up by the end of 2024, with a focus on densely populated zones and high-crime areas.
Tseung Kwan O is one of the sites where new surveillance cameras with high resolution will be installed.
The new Mong Kok cameras had helped police identify two men from mainland China who allegedly installed a card reader and false keypad with a wireless transmitter at a cash deposit machine at a bank in the district in April. One of the suspects was arrested at a border checkpoint on April 30 while the other was placed on a wanted list.
According to police, one kidnapper snatched the boy while he was playing with his elder sister outside a shop in the mall at 4.30pm on Wednesday. The captor gave the sister a ransom note warning the family not to call the police.
The Post learned that the family was told to pay 660,000 Tether digital coins worth about HK$5.15 million (US$660,000) to have the boy released.
Describing the kidnap plot as “premeditated”, Chief Superintendent Kwan King-pan revealed on Thursday that one of the suspects took the boy away 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 inside a luggage and taken to the home of one of the suspects in Tseung Kwan O. After identifying the suspects and the flat, officers from the bureau raided the flat at The Wings and rescued the boy at 5.25am on Thursday. The two women were arrested in the premises.
Kwan said the boy was taken to hospital for a medical examination that showed he did not suffer any injuries.
Police said no ransom was paid.
The two women, both aged 38, were detained on suspicion of kidnapping. One suspect is a visitor from the mainland while the other holds a Hong Kong identity card. The mainland woman came to the city in late June.
The force said the two suspects had financial problems, but the pair did not know the boy’s family. Officers are still investigating why he was targeted.
In Hong Kong, abduction is punishable by up to life in prison.
