Girl kidnapped in Madrid park found drugged and bewildered five hours later
Authorities seek to calm public after man took nine-year-old to an apartment in his car
Government and police authorities were on Friday seeking to address the social alarm created after a nine-year-old girl was abducted from a Madrid park as she played with friends on Thursday night, and was found drugged and disoriented hours later outside a subway station.
Calling it “an isolated incident,” the government delegate in Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, and the Madrid chief of police, José Fernández Díez, said that all necessary resources have been deployed and that the case is considered top priority.
“I have never done this before, but as the top official in charge of this investigation I am asking for maximum prudence, for calm and serenity,” said Cifuentes. “As soon as we have results, we will pass along the information,” added Fernández Díez.
The government delegate said that all necessary resources have been deployed and the case is considered top priority
The child was kidnapped on Thursday night in a park located in the district of Ciudad Lineal, in the eastern section of the capital. After the girl disappeared, her mother went to the nearest police precinct, and authorities quickly began a search operation involving officers from the national and municipal forces.
Around five hours after the kidnapping, at around 2am, the young girl was found at the entrance to Canillejas subway station, in the northeast of the city, following a call from a woman who spotted the youngster on her own.
Sources from the investigation have explained that the girl had been playing with her friends when a man who had been taking photos in the park approached her. The man told her that he was going to take her to try on some dresses, and convinced her that her mother knew all about it. Afterwards, he drove off with her in his car and took her to an apartment, where he drugged her.
The woman who spotted the child at the subway station said the girl was “bewildered and disoriented.” After the call to the police, the youngster was returned to her family at the Ciudad Lineal precinct and taken to Ramón y Cajal hospital for observation. She was described as being in good health.
A special unit of the criminal investigations department has taken over the case and is interrogating eye-witnesses, including the children who were with the victim at the time of her abduction.
