Story By: Lisa-Maria Goertz, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Security camera images have revealed how a young girl around 10 years old was used to kidnap a two-year-old boy who has been missing for 23 days.
The disturbing incident took place in the market of the city of San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
Two-year-old Dylan Esau Gomez disappeared from the market where his mother works on 30th June.
His 23-year-old mother Juana Perez spent two days outside the National Palace of the capital Mexico City to demand action from the president.
Recently, images were released from two shops inside the market showing Dylan with a young girl, aged around 10-12 years old, according to national newspaper El Universal.
The images show the little girl holding onto the back of the little boy’s jumper and leading him out of the market.
More images show the girl handing over the little boy to a woman.
In a live press conference, general attorney Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca said that they have made advances in finding out the child’s whereabouts, but cannot reveal more details so as “not to hinder the investigation.”
According to Juana, Dylan was about to start nursery and he and his older sister, 4, would spend their days with her at the market, where everybody knew them.
Their grandmother had a stall 50 metres (164 ft) away and the two children had gone together to ask her for some more fruit when Dylan disappeared.
According to international newspaper El Pais, the prosecution recently reported that the search for Dylan had led them to a child trafficking ring in San Cristobal.
The agency released a statement saying it had dismantled the network and rescued 23 children, the youngest being three months old and the oldest 15 years old.
The prosecution said in the statement: “Minors were forced to sell handicrafts in the city centre through physical and psychological violence.”
However, Dylan was not one of the 23 rescued children and the three women arrested did not match the woman who he was handed over to in the CCTV footage.
Juana says she has now returned to her home city and will continue to search for her son.
According to El Pais, the National Search Commission have said they are sending a team to Chiapas to work hand in hand with the Prosecutor’s Office to continue their search for Dylan, as well as trying to find out who the 23 rescued children are.
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