A four-year-old boy was kept hidden for two years by kidnappers who disguised him as a girl, police said on Wednesday.
Officers recovered the child in a rented summer cottage on the shore of Tampere’s lake Näsijärvi on Saturday. Central Finland Police had appealed back in February for information from the public to help track down the missing boy.
Speaking on Wednesday, police said the boy is now under the care of social services, and thanked the public for sending in information and sightings during the search. ”The child has been taken to a different location,” Inspector Pasi Nieminen said. “His appearance had been changed to try and stop him being found, he looked like a girl.”
Human trafficking
A 41-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man, who were with the child when police found him, have been detained. On Wednesday, Pirkanmaa District Court remanded them in custody on suspicion of aggravated deprivation of personal liberty.
The boy's whereabouts had been unknown since 2014. Police say his disappearance was linked to a human trafficking case for which a middle-aged man and his daughter were convicted in November 2015. The convicted man is the boy’s father.
Police say the father hid the child before his arrest and subsequent incarceration. The woman who was this week discovered with the boy is said to be a close associate of the father’s.