130 police hunt mystery boy ‘snatched off street’
DETECTIVES were last night conducting a hunt involving 130 officers after a boy was said to have been snatched off a street and driven away in a van.
Despite not receiving any reports of a child being missing officers said they were taking the claim from a “credible” witness seriously.
Senior officers have called in forensic experts, dog handlers and a police helicopter.
They have ruled out one suspect vehicle captured on CCTV but are now looking for a similar black vehicle.
They are trying to establish the possible identity of the child – believed to be around six – who the witness reported seeing getting into a van in Redhill, Surrey, on Thursday. Detective Superintendent Chris Edwards of Surrey Police refused to confirm if a struggle had been reported but admitted that a child had seemingly been taken “against his will”.
The boy, who was wearing a red T-shirt and navy jeans, was reported to have been taken into a VW Transporter with an 02 dated licence plate. Detectives have narrowed the time down to between 4.25pm and 4.40pm and want anyone who used Redhill station at that time to get in touch. Police said a A van similar to the one that police are trying to trace. It is a black VW Transporter and has an 02 number plate cycle found at the scene did not belong to the boy but was still relevant to the investigation.
Det Supt Edwards said the main theory their investigation was focussed on was that a child has indeed been abducted.
A second theory is that someone was involved in an incident with their own child or a child in their care.
He called on anyone who was involved in such a situation to call.
“We would urge you to make contact with us immediately so that we can scale this investigation back and offer reassurance to the public,” he said.