A one-year-old baby girl of Corozal Town was this morning returned to her family after being abducted on Sunday, March 24, 2013.

Reports are that sometime around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, the mother, a Chinese businesswoman, was with her child on her way home from her business at the Corozal Free Zone. She was on the ITVET Road near Santa Rita Heights when two vehicles blocked her path, and a group of men reportedly armed with guns, jumped out the vehicles, grabbed her child, gave her instructions and a phone, and sped off.

The instructions were that she was to pay a ransom of US$450,000 (almost a million dollars Belize) before the child could be returned, and she was not to go to the police or the media or the child would be killed.

Our sources say that the 1-year-old was taken to a village in the Orange Walk District, and on Monday the kidnappers hired a driver to take them along with the baby back to Corozal. Sometime before midnight Monday, Police were tipped off that some men were acting suspiciously near the Corozal seaside, and that they had a child with them.

When police arrived, the men had already gotten into their vehicle. The officers tried to engage them but they sped off. Police set chase and caught up with the vehicle almost in front of the police station. Inside the vehicle police found three persons and the baby, who was in good health.

Reports are that those persons told the authorities that they were holding the child on the request of another person. Police have confirmed that they have the three persons, all locals, in custody, pending their ongoing investigation.