On Tuesday evening, the Lithuanian police successfully carried out an operation to free a nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped and held in a garage in Kaunas by a 42-year-old man.
The girl disappeared on Sunday at around 16:30 when she left home to go to a shop. A two-day search operation involved hundreds of police officers and volunteers from all over Lithuania.
The police found the girl alive on Tuesday evening and handed her over to medical professionals. Her suspected abductor was detained.
The girl was kept in a garage close to the place of abduction, but it was not easy to find her, according to Commissioner General of the Lithuanian Police Renatas Požėla.
“The suspect and the girl were found in the garage, which we accessed using forced entry. The arrest was carried out by Aras (Lithuanian Police Anti-Terrorist Operations Squadron) officers,” he told a press conference held in the early hours of Wednesday.
According to him, the kidnapping was well-planned and “committed in a rather competent manner”.
“Probably everything from the very beginning. The abduction of the child, the approach, his behaviour at the scene, his further actions, and certain infrastructure he used. All the details allow us to say that it was not a walk in the park,” Požėla said.
“Some things surprised us, let’s put it that way,” he added.
The girl is alive and well, although there may be “some” injuries, said Kaunas County Police Chief Mindaugas Baršys. The garage where the girl was held was “somewhat adapted” for the purpose of the crime, he added but did not give more details.
According to the police, the suspect has no criminal record and is not related to the family of the kidnapped girl.
Požėla noted that the 9-year-old girl was put into the suspect’s car at a bus stop. The further course of events is being investigated.
Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday filed kidnapping charges against the man who was detained in the garage in Kaunas. His mental state will be assessed. Later on the same day, the Kaunas District Court upheld the prosecutor's request to arrest the suspected kidnapper for three months.
Two cats, a dog, and a mouse were also rescued from the garage, the animal welfare organisation Penkta Koja said. In August, the dog was reported missing by the owner, and the origin of the other animals is unclear.
The 42-year-old suspect has a history of environmental offences, according to the police.
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