A Hanoi couple recently appeared at the DTiNews/DanTri office to give thanks for the newspaper’s assistance in retrieving their kidnapped son.
The parents, Mr. Ngo Van Hoan and Mrs. Ngo Thi Tua, came with their son, three-year old Ngo Van Hai, a bunch of flowers, and many kind words to express their gratitude.
Coming to DTiNews/DanTri for help
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| The victim’s family show their gratitude at DTiNews/DanTri offices with Editor-in-chief Pham Huy Hoan |
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| Police hand over the boy to his parents |
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| A family reunited |
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| Nguyen Thi Mai now faces serious charges (Photo: Phap Luat & Xa Hoi) |
The ordeal for this family from Hoang Mai district started the morning of January 3. Mrs. Ngo Thi Tua went to the market, telling her 12-year old daughter to take care of her little brother at their family\'s tea stand.
While there, “A woman came to the tea stand to have a drink. She was very friendly with the children and gave my daughter some chewing gum. When my daughter went to the bathroom the woman used the opportunity to take my son,” Tua recalled tearfully.
After realising her son was missing she came to DTiNews/DanTri to ask for help. DanTri reporters immediately started investigating. They soon discovered some helpful information from Mrs. Tua’s 62-year old neighbor, who’d seen the woman take off with the little boy. The neighbor did nothing to stop it because she thought the kidnapper was a relative.
A local driver revealed that he’d transported a woman with a boy to Thuong Tin district, Hanoi. He assumed they were travelling south on National Highway 1A.
As soon as the information about the missing boy was posted on the DanTri website, readers began to call in to offer tips and their condolences. One reader, named Nguyen Truong “T”, said that he’d met a suspicious woman on a ferry in the north. The woman, about 40, was accompanied by a crying boy
You can run but you can’t hide
Senior Lieutenant-colonel Tran Van Tinh, head of Hoang Mai District Police, said that after they received information about the kidnapping from the boy’s father, the police immediately began their investigation. They identified the alleged kidnapper as Nguyen Thi Mai, a 31-year old from Do Luong district, central Nghe An Province. They promptly began a search.
The accused kidnapper was arrested on January 7, within four days of the incident. She was found hiding out in a guest house in Hanoi, Hoang Liet Ward, Hoang Mai district.
Mai admitted to police that she had intended to sell the boy in Thuong Tin district. Unable to find a buyer, she brought Hai to the house of relatives in Hai Phong City, asking them to look after Hai for a few days while she went to Hanoi. According to Hanoi police, Mai intended to get ransom, since she was unable to sell him.
Mai, an unemployed, homeless mother of two, has one conviction of theft dating from 2002.
When reunited with his son, an extremely happy Mr. Hoan, said, “This moment has made me very grateful to the Hanoi police, DanTri, its readers and all who helped with this nationwide search for my son.”
