On Wednesday, the 10th of January, the Minister of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė, at a press conference said that the recent kidnapping of the little girl in Kaunas does not indicate a decline of security situation in the country, noting that child kidnapping is extremely rare in Lithuania, reports Lithuanian Delfi.
Meanwhile, the head of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office, Rimas Bradūnas, said that the 42-year-old man who was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of child abduction will be charged and Kaunas regional prosecutors have requested a three-month arrest.
The Minister of the Interior stated that there were no trends or circumstances
that would indicate a change in the security situation in Lithuania.
She stressed that in 99% of cases missing children are found safe and sound within a few days, adding that in most cases children are found with friends, relatives or in shopping centres.
According to Delfi.lt, Police Commissioner General Renatas Požėla also confirmed that the overall security situation in the country has remained unchanged.
He referred to the preliminary crime data for last year, which did not show any drastic changes compared to 2022 and 2021, stressing that Lithuania is probably one of the safest in the region and perhaps even in the EU.
BNN already reported that on Tuesday evening, the 9th of January, police in Kaunas found the missing nine-year-old girl Agota safe and well near the scene of her abduction. The girl went missing on Sunday, the 7th of January, with hundreds of police officers and volunteers involved in the search.
Law enforcement authorities have declared information about a car noticed near a bus stop on Sunday to be crucial in the kidnapping investigation.
It was discovered that the detainee lived in the garage and had a weapons licence, and authorities are planning to assess the man’s mental health.
Follow us on Facebook and X!