A group consisting of eight children and pre-teens in Depok, West Java was allegedly abducted after being lured by an unknown man with an eSports tournament.
The victims, comprising two girls and six boys, are between 11 and 13 years old. They were playing around an area in Sukmajaya sub-district, East Depok on Saturday when the man, who has yet to be identified, approached them.
“The children were playing bentengan (fortresses) at the parking lot of Agung Market. Then an unknown adult man approached them,” Depok Metro Police Chief Azis Andriansyah said yesterday.
The suspect lured the victims with an eSports tournament, which piqued their interests. They were then taken for a ride on an angkot minivan to Depok’s main thoroughfare of Margonda street. After getting off the angkot, they continued walking until they reached a flyover near University of Indonesia (UI).
Four out of eight children ran away then, while the other four stayed with the suspect. They briefly stayed with the suspect at what is believed to be his house near the Kramat Jati Market, and then managed to escape at around 10pm by pretending to go to the toilet.
“After receiving a report from their parents, we immediately checked and found the children at the Kramat Jati Market in a state of confusion,” Azis said.
The suspect reportedly threatened to kill the four children he managed to abduct if they ran away.
All eight children are safe and back with their respective families, with police saying there is no evidence of physical abuse so far. Authorities are still in pursuit of the suspect, who reportedly evaded police capture, so his motive for the alleged abduction has yet to be established.
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