Mumbai: Police reunite missing girl from Sweden with her family
A 16-year-old girl from Sweden who flew down to India after becoming friends with an 18-year-old Chembur resident on Instagram was reunited with her family, thanks to the efforts of the Mumbai police. The girl had left her country without informing her parents.
DCP (crime) Neelotpal said that they were told on December 4 that the girl was visiting Mumbai International Airport after she had disappeared from her home in Sweden on November 27. The information was received on the basis of a yellow corner message issued by the Swedish police.
Mumbai police were informed by their Swedish counterparts that the girl had become friends with a Mumbai boy on social media. The Bombay police branch then tracked down the boy.
The head of the crime branch (Unit VIII), Ravindra Salunkhe, said that the boy told them that the girl lived in a nearby apartment in the Cheetah Camp area of Trombay. A police team then found the girl and sent her to the child protection committee. The Swedish embassy was also informed about the girl.
The girl’s father then came to India and he was reunited with his daughter. The father-daughter duo flew back to Sweden last Saturday. Salunkhe said the 18-year-old boy is a student and that he did not intend to harm the girl.
“They had been chatting, talking online and on video calls in recent months. The girl then wanted to meet him and therefore she flew down to Mumbai. In Sweden, they can travel alone internationally for over 15 years and therefore she had no problem coming to India, says the police.
The girl’s father later took to twitter to thank the police in Mumbai for cracking the case.