A seven-year-old child was kidnapped on Friday in Gauchy (Aisne) then found and released at the Villefranche-sur-Saone (Rhone) toll by the police, who placed four people, including the child's father, in custody. She announced the news on Saturday.
"Several hooded individuals [...] armed in a tear gas canister, a sledgehammer and a handgun, according to first testimonies, burst into the Gauchy home where the man lived on Friday afternoon." According to a press release by the North judicial police, the child was taken into custody.
The suspects seized the child "by force" while he was accompanied by his mother and other family members. After that, they fled with a vehicle.
The statement said that "the first elements of the probe suggested that the father (age 27 and known to police) was among those kidnappers."
Police used an "important search device" to locate the vehicle involved. It was travelling in a southerly direction on the A7 motorway. They were able to intercept it at 20 h 30.
The Research and Intervention Brigades of Lyon and Dijon released the child "safe and secure" and took his father and three accomplices into custody.
The four defendants, aged 27-36 and living in Marseille are all known to police. They were taken into custody.
The judicial police stated that the child was "returned to his mother on the evening of July 8th"
