Interpol joins the investigation into Beckenridge case
Interpol is on high alert and is helping New Zealand police in the mysterious disappearance of John Beckenridge and his stepson.
Border alerts were in place within 24 hours of Mr Beckenridge allegedly abducting Mike ZhaoBeckenridge, 11, during the lunch break from James Hargest College’s junior school in Invercargill.
More than a week after their March 13 disappearance, Mr Beckenridge’s car was found at the bottom of an 88m cliff near Curio Bay. Their bodies have not been found.
Police are now treating it as a missing persons case.
Mr Beckenridge’s friends and neighbours say he would never hurt Mike, and believe he has faked their deaths and is hiding out in either New Zealand or overseas.
Interpol is helping in the hunt for the pair.
The Wellington National Central Bureau (NCB) Interpol office is being kept up to date with the investigation, acting Southland area commander Inspector Kelvin Lloyd confirmed.
“Part of this involvement has been liaising with their counterparts in other offices in other countries,” said Mr Lloyd.
He wouldn’t reveal which offices, or inquiries that have been made, saying it formed part of the investigation.
Swedish-born Mr Beckenridge, 64, is an experi- enced commercial helicopter pilot who up until last September had been working for Pacific Helicopters PNG — an aviation firm, based in the East- ern Highlands province capital Goroka, that flies for the oil, gas, mining, drilling and construction sectors.
Pacific Helicopters PNG chief executive Mal Smith said that New Zealand police had spoken to the company.
“We have given all of our information to [New Zealand] police,” Mr Smith said. “We knew he had problems with his wife, and problems getting access to his kid, but we didn’t know it was that extreme.”
News of his disappearance has circulated PNG flying circles.
Beckenridge, also variously known as John Robert Lundh, Knut Goran Roland Lundh, and John Bradford, was not a registered pilot with the Civil Aviation Authority.
The civil aviation safety authorities of Australia and PNG refuse to release pilot licence information, citing privacy legislation.