Kidnapped Syrian boy in Turkey’s southeast saved in police raid

GAZİANTEP

A Syrian boy who was kidnapped two weeks ago by a Turkish suspect in the southern province of Gaziantep was saved in a police operation on May 14. 

The six-year-old boy was kidnapped by an unidentified suspect on April 24. The suspect had sent a photograph of the boy showing the boy tied up to his father, Ahmet Kasım, demanding 10,000 Turkish Liras in ransom.

Kasım, who uses a wheelchair, had fled to Turkey from Aleppo with his wife and two children.

His son was kidnapped after Kasım went to a wholesalers’ bazaar in Gaziantep’s Gazikent neighborhood to receive food aid with his older son.

The boy entered a grocery store and left his father sitting in his wheelchair but did not come back. The father subsequently could not find his son and made a complaint about the incident with the police.

On May 9, an unidentified person called the father, saying he was holding his missing son. He also sent the photo and demanded 10,000 liras as a ransom.

“He said he would give back my son for the money and that we should not let the police know. He sent my son’s picture showing his hands and feet tied up. I want my son to be found,” Kasım said.

“My son has been missing for 20 days. My husband is disabled, no one is looking after us. I want the authorities to find my child,” said the boy’s mother, Rane Kasım.

On May 14, police raided an address in Gaziantep’s Düztepe neighborhood and managed to save the child, detaining two suspects.