A man suspected of involvement in the disappearance of a nine-year-old boy was arrested on Friday night at his home in Geleen next to the Belgian border, according to police in the Netherlands, Belga News Agency reports.
Dutch police said on Saturday that efforts to find the missing boy, whose first name is Gino, were under way. “The search is continuing without respite,” said the police, who fear the boy’s life could be in danger.
Gino, who lives in Maastricht, disappeared on Wednesday evening in Kerkrade, close to the border with Germany, where he was staying with his 32-year-old sister, since his mother was ill. Another sister, aged 21, said the boy went to play football earlier Wednesday evening on a playing field close to her apartment. He should have returned home by 7.30 p.m. but never did.
A missing person’s alert was then sent out on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, a scooter bearing a close resemblance to Gino’s was found in a swimming pool in Landgraaf, a few kilometres from Kerkrade.
Then, on Friday night, citizens found “something” in or near the woods in Kerkrade that could be linked to the boy’s disappearance, police said.
